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Wisdom's  Gall 


BY 


Sutton  E.  Griggs 


"Sit  down  before  a  fact  as  a  little 
child,  be  prepared  to  give  up  every 
preconceived  notion,  follow  humbly 
wherever  and  to  whatever  abysses 
nature  leads,  or  you  will  learn  noth- 
ing."—Thdmas  H.  Huxley. 


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COPYRIGHTED   BY 

SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS, 

,   TKNN. 
1911. 


E 
ILr 


DEDICATION. 


Z#<?  one  dear  life  which,  in  all  the  on  going  of  time,  I  shall 

be  allowed   to  live  upon  this  planet,  came  to  me 

within  the  borders  of  the  imperial  state 

of  Texas.      Whatever  others 

may  say,  shall  I  not,  therefore,  love  her  ?      Well,  I  do;  and 

to  Texas  soil  which  fed  me,  to  Texas  air  which 

fanned  my  cheeks,  to   Texas  skies   which 

smiled  upon    me,    to    Texas  stars 

whose  fiery     orbs    searched 

my  soul,  chased  out  the  germs  of  slumber  and  bade  me  come 
to  them,  this  volume  is  affectionately  dedicated  by 

THE  AUTHOR, 


WORKS  OF  SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS. 


"IMPERIUM  IN  IMPERIO" 
"OVERSHADOWED" 

"UNFETTERED" 

"THE  HINDERED  HAND" 

"THE  ONE  GREAT  QUESTION" 

"POINTING  THE  WAY" 

"WISDOM'S  CALL" 


The  skill  and  the  courage,  the  daring  and  per- 
sistence, the  heroism,  resourcefulness  and  mas- 
terful genius  displayed  by  the  sons  of  the  white 
South  during  their  four  years  of  bloody  travel  and 
shifting  fortunes  from  Bull  Run's  battle  ground, 
by  the  way  of  Shiloh,  of  Gettysburg,  of  Antietam 
and  other  fields  of  carnage,  on  and  on,  and  on,  to 
the  dreary  plains  of  hope-ending  Appomattox, 
settled  for  all  time  to  come  the  question  of  the  in- 
nate capacity  of  the  white  South  for  great  achieve- 
ments. 

It  is  well  that  the  South  has  had  this  lesson  of 
her  greatness  coming  out  of  the  Civil  War,  for,  stand- 
ing midway  of  the  world's  civic  forests,  with  the 
world's  most  stupendous  sociological  problem 
strapped  to  her  back,  hedged  in  with  briers,  brambles 
and  darkness,  her  ears  beset  with  the  harsh  tones 
of  the  vicious,  the  false  tones  of  the  demagogues 
and  the  half  tones  of  the  timid,  the  lesson  is  needed 
that  she  may  have  the  faith  in  her  powers  necessary 
for  the  performance  of  the  great  task  that  is  hers 
and  the  nation's. 

But  there  are  other  lessons  of  equal  importance 
to  be  drawn  from  the  outcome  of  this  same  war. 
The  result  of  the  war  wholly  unforeseen  by  the  leaders 

vii 


PREFACE. 

of  the  South  of  that  day,  demonstrates  that  the  white 
South  with  all  of  its  acuteness  of  judgment  is  not 
by  any  means  infallible,  is  not  beyond  the  possibility 
of  making  grave  mistakes.  The  result  of  the  war 
also  demonstrates  that,  with  all  of  its  power,  the 
white  South  is  yet  not  able  to  withstand  the  eternal 
drift  of  things,  is  not  able  to  fight  against  the  stars 
in  their  courses,  is  not  able  to  thwart  the  purposes 
of  the  guiding  hand  of  the  universe  however  dis- 
tasteful the  pathway  mapped  out  may  be. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  South  can  make  mis- 
takes and  can  be  ordered  by  eternal  forces  to  re- 
trace her  steps,  an  open  ear  should  be  ever  kept  at- 
tuned to  catch  dear  wisdom's  call.  Such  we  feel 
our  message  herein  given  to  be.  Hence%the  name  it 
bears. 

In  "Wisdom's  Call"  we  have  striven  to  look  at 
matters  fundamentally,  and  feel  that  we  have  made 
a  presentation  which  the  white  South  can  only  re- 
ject or  ignore  at  the  cost  of  a  silent,  bloodless  but 
costly  struggle  with  eternal  forces,  which  through 
the  years  will  eat  away  her  vitals. 

Very  respectfully, 

SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS. 


Vlll 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Danger  of  an  Unprotected  Spot. 

CHAPTER  II. 
A  Luxury  of   Great   Price. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The    National  Power  As  an   Asset. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A   Better  System   for  Making  Men. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The   Preservation   of   the  Two    Races. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Southern  Statesmanship  and   the  Negro 
Woman. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

How    to  Keep    the  Colored    Race   from 
Being  a  Burden. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  White  Man's  Equity   in   Negro 
Education. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Spirit  of    a   People. 


WISDOM'S  CALL. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  DANGER  OF  AN  LNPRO- 
TECTED  SPOT. 


We  are  living  in  a  day  in  which  great 
Small  importance  is  being  attached  to  what 

Things.  was  once  regarded  as  the  small,  in- 
consequential things  of  the  universe, 
a  day  in  which  the  greatest  and  wisest  among  men 
do  not  consider  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  take  note 
of  what  such  lowly  beings  as  flies,  mosquitoes  and 
rats  are  doing.  Since  Pasteur  unfolded  to  the  world 
the  germ  theory  of  disease,  and  demonstrated  the 
presence  in  the  human  frame  of  tiny  creatures,  too 
small  to  be  detected  by  the  keenest  eye  when  un- 
aided, creatures  that  feed  upon  and  destroy  the  body, 
the  minds  of  men  have  been  very  generally  turned 
in  the  direction  of  small  things.  So  small,  so  in- 
significant a  thing  as  the  house  fly  now  stands 
charged  with  being  a  source  through  which  typhoid 
fever  germs  are  able  to  capture  men  and  put  them  in 

(ID 


12  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

jeopardy  of  their  lives.  The  sneaking  chinch, 
small,  timid  and  cowardly,  daring  not  to  leave  its 
hiding  place  except  under  the  cover  of  darkness, 
has  at  last  been  singled  out  as  the  agency  by  means 
of  which  the  smallpox  is  spread  abroad.  Tuber- 
culosis, the  disease  that  vexes  the  soul  of  man,  that 
has  baffled  the  concentrated  wisdom  of  the  world 
and  of  the  ages,  is  but  the  work  of  tiny  germs  of  such 
size  that  hundreds  of  them  can  assemble  upon  the 
point  of  a  needle  without  being  visible  to  the  naked 
eye.  The  discovery  has  been  made  that  the  bubonic 
plague,  the  terror  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  is 
transmitted  from  land  to  land  by  so  humble  a  crea- 
ture as  a  rat  that  hides  in  the  hold  of  a  ship  as  it  sails 
from  port  to  port.  It  is  now  well  known  that  the 
epidemics  of  yellow  fever  which  in  times  past  disor- 
ganized the  business  of  states  and  nations,  and  con- 
verted whole  cities  into  one  great  funeral  procession, 
were  organized  and  conducted  by  such  tiny  beings 
as  mosquitoes  which  flew  from  the  swamps  and 
carried  the  disease  from  man  to  man.  The  suffering 
yellow  fever  patient  strained  his  dying  eyes  in  search 
of  some  far  off  mysterious  providence  that  was 
hurrying  him  to  an  untimely  death,  while  just  above 
his  head  the  mosquitoes  were  chanting  in  an  unknown 
tongue  the  full  story  of  his  infection  and  his  impend- 
ing dissolution. 

There  are  some  who  seem  to  be  of 
Making  the  opinion  that  the  complete  adjust- 
the  Negro  ment  in  the  South  of  what  is  called  the 
Small.  race  question  will  immediately  follow 

the  repeal  or  annulment  of  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment    to  the    Constitution    of    the   United 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  13 

States.  Their  cry  is,  deprive  the  Negro  of  all  politi- 
cal power;  cause  him  to  be  absolutely  helpless  so  far 
as  affecting  the  situation  one  way  or  another  is  con- 
cerned; reduce  him  to  the  position  of  a  governmental 
insect,  and,  they  assert,  our  troubles  will  all  be  over. 
But  small  things,  we  have  just  seen,  can  give  trouble. 
The  fly  does  more  harm  than  the  eagle;  the  rat  is 
more  dangerous  than  the  elephant;  the  chinch  is  far 
more  to  be  feared  than  the  lion.  The  Negro,  though 
reduced  to  a  position  of  utter  helplessness  will  be 
the  source  of  unending  trouble  to  the  white  South 
and  to  the  nation.  We  have  no  reference  here  to 
any  possible  injury  the  Negro  might  be  able  to  in- 
flict by  means  of  such  strength  as  he  could  muster. 
Very  little,  perhaps,  as  matters  now  stand,  need  be 
feared  from  that  quarter.  But  it  is  the  weakened 
position  of  the  Negro,  not  his  strength,  that  is  to  be 
feared.  The  putrid  body  of  a  dead  man  lying  at 
the  bottom  of  a  reservoir  can  poison  the  water  of  a 
city  and  thus  slay  more  people  than  if  the  man  were 
alive,  dashing  wildly  through  the  streets  of  that  city 
firing  on  the  right  and  on  the  left. 

When  in  sixteen  hundred  and  nine- 
A  Small  teen  a  handful  of  uncivilized  and  help- 
Beginning,  less  aliens  was  incorporated  as  slaves 
into  the  economic  life  of  Virginia,  the 
great  issues  bound  up  in  that  act  were  hidden  from 
the  most  astute  minds  of  that  day.  Utterly  weak 
were  those  Negroes;  a  condition  more  abject  is 
hardly  conceivable.  And  yet  they  were  not  without 
the  power  of  doing  harm.  The  system  of  slavery 
ramified  the  South,  poured  its  noxious  poison  into 


14  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

its  life  currents,  marked  its  fertile  fields  for  avoidance, 
transferred  the  seat  of  power  to  the  northeast,  north 
and  northwest  and  finally  became  the  bone  of  con- 
tention that  provoked  the  most  terrific  war  that  the 
human  family  has  thus  far  waged. 

"Behold,  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth!" 

P        ..  But  the  advocates  of  the  repeal  of 

the  Fifteenth  Amendment  hold  that 
said  proposed  repeal  would  not  weaken 
the  Negro;  hold  that  his  position  would 
be  the  stronger  if  he  would  but  rest  his  case  upon 
the  sense  of  guardianship  of  his  white  neighbor,  and 
not  seek  to  have  a  voice  of  his  own  in  the  government. 
In  fact  there  are  some  who  seem  fully  convinced 
that  the  ideal  situation  for  the  South  is  one  in  which 
the  Negro  is  granted  protection  in  the  matter  of  hold- 
ing property,  is  granted  the  right  of  trial  by  jury, 
but  is  denied  all  voice  in  the  matter  of  conducting  the 
affairs  of  state.  The  contention  is  made  that  the 
occupying  of  this  position  on  the  part  of  the  Negro 
is  not  necessarily  incompatible  with  the  according 
to  him  of  full  protection,  and  as  proof  that  an  element 
shorn  of  the  right  of  participation  in  the  government 
can  still  be  amply  protected,  the  favorable  treat- 
ment of  women  and  children,  non-voting  elements, 
is  cited.  An  instant's  reflection  will  convince  one 
that  it  is  quite  an  error  to  base  conclusions  as  to  what 
can  be  done  for  the  Negro  upon  whatever  degree  of 
favorable  treatment  is  accorded  women  and  children. 
The  known  relationship  of  woman  to  the  social  side 
of  man  at  once  discloses  the  fact  that  even  without 
citizenship  she  occupies  a  position  of  vantage  that 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  15 

in  the  very  nature  of  things  the  Negro  man  can  never 
occupy  with  relation  to  the  white  man.  The  mother, 
wife,  sister,  potential  wife  or  sweetheart,  the  co- 
partner in  the  work  of  pro-creation — these  have  a 
thousand  chances  for  protection  to  one  that  the  Negro 
has  as  a  simple  contributor  to  the  material  side  of 
civilization.  The  girl  child  is  their  woman  in  the  em- 
bryo, and  the  boy  a  citizen  in  the  embryo,  and  even 
the  birds  know  how  to  protect  their  own  eggs  in  pref- 
erence to  protecting  the  fledglings  of  others.  In  view 
of  the  fact  therefore,  that  the  white  woman  and 
child  are  intimately  interwoven  in  the  social  and 
civic  life  of  the  white  man  the  protection  that  is  ac- 
corded them  cannot  be  pointed  to  as  an  example  of 
what  could  be  expected  for  the  Negro  placed  in  a 
weakened  position  in  the  body  politic. 
„  Far  better  illustrations  of  what  can 

be  expected  of  the  sense  of  guardian- 
ship, unsupported  by  other  considera- 
tions, are  the  treatment  accorded 
Negro  women,  who,  where  Negroes  are  disfranchised 
have  no  social  ties  linking  them  to  any  of  the  sover- 
eign voters,  and  the  status  of  the  Negro  child,  who 
if  a  girl,  is  not  a  future  social  queen  of  the  white 
race,  or,  if  a  boy,  is  not  a  future  citizen  where  Ne- 
groes are  denied  the  right  to  vote  because  of  race. 
It  is  the  universal  plaint  of  the  colored  woman 
that  she  stands  absolutely  unprotected,  that 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  where  an  alleged 
offender  against  her  honor  is  white  she  is  laughed  out 
of  court,  and  further,  that  cases  which  would  cause 
death  were  the  racial  connection  of  each  party  to  the 


16  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

situation   reversed,    are   actually   denied   entrance 
into  court. 

As  to  the  hold  that  the  Negro  child  has  upon 
the  situation,  we  may  readily  judge  from  the  mere 
fact  that  the  desire  in  some  quarters  to  have 
him  grow  up  in  ignorance  prevents  the  more  rapid 
growth  in  the  South  of  a  sentiment  in  favor  of  com- 
pulsory education.  In  short,  the  Negro  child  is  so 
weak  in  reference  to  its  enjoying  its  rights,  that  it 
is  able  through  that  weakness  to  keep  the  white 
child  out  of  its  rights.  Here  then,  in  the  case  of  the 
Negro  woman  and  child  we  have  clear  illustrations 
of  what  it  means  to  be  dependent  upon  a  mere  sense 
of  guardianship. 

To  prove  that  the  Negro  can  safely 
Conditions  rely  upon  the  white  man's  sense  of 
Have  guardianship,  reference  is  sometimes 

Changed.  made  to  the  protection  that  was  often 
given  the  slave  by  his  master.  But 
that  protection  was  born  of  a  deeper  motive  than 
that  of  simple  guardianship.  The  greatest  of  all  mo- 
tives, self-interest,  inspired  the  master  to  protect 
his  slave.  But  now  that  the  Negroes  are  free  and 
there  are  no  masters  to  guard  their  own  interests 
by  protecting  their  slaves,  it  is  indeed  poor  reason- 
ing that  would  expect  the  same  activity  and.  the 
same  results  under  the  changed  conditions.  No, 
the  protection  accorded  to  the  slave  is  not  in  any 
sense  an  indication  of  what  would  be  the  plight  of 
the  Negro  resting  wholly  upon  such  sense  of  guard- 
ianship as  might  be  developed  in  the  white  race. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  17 

Nature's  one  great  remedy  for  all 
Nature's  situations  threatening  trouble  is  the 
Remedy.  instinct  of  self-preservation.  That  in- 
stinct is  the  only  thing  that  can  be 
relied  upon  to  do  full  justice  by  the  individual  in- 
volved, that  can  be  depended  upon  to  be  on  the  alert 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  Whenever 
this  instinct  is  forbidden  to  work,  the  element  thus 
situated  is  in  a  weakened  condition  in  the  body 
politic.  A  toothless  dog  is  certain  to  have  more 
stones  thrown  at  him  than  is  one  that  can  growl  and 
show  a  gleaming  row  of  sharp  protectors  when  oc- 
casion requires.  Yes,  the  Negro,  denied  the  right 
to  participate  in  the  government,  is  in  a  weakened 
position,  and  we  shall  now  proceed  to  show  the  harm 
to  the  whole  body  politic,  the  entire  governmental 
fabric  by  virtue  of  his  occupying  this  position. 

We  shall  first  consider  the  psycho- 
When  the  logical  developments,  the  effects  upon 
State  Dis-  the  minds  of  men,  that  result  from  the 
criminates,  course  of  the  state  in  discriminating 
against  the  Negro,  in  putting  him  in  a 
weakened  condition.  Where  the  Negro  has  the 
proper  influences  around  him  to  guide  him,  his  spirit 
will  rise  above  and  be  unaffected  by  any  course 
deemed  unjust  that  the  state  may  take,  but  to  the 
unguided  mind  will  come  one  of  two  conclusions. 
The  victim  of  discrimination  because  of  his  race, 
will  decide  either  that  the  state  is  right,  that  he  is  a 
being  of  a  lower  order — which  conclusion  robs  him  of 
his  self-respect,  or  he  will  feel  that  the  state  is 
unjust,  and  bitterness  will  thereupon  enter  his 


18  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

spirit.  In  both  cases  the  state  has  prepared  a  con- 
genial soil  for  the  development  of  crime;  for  what 
better  preparation  can  one  have  for  a  career  of 
wrongdoing  than  a  full  supply  of  disrespect  for  one- 
self, or  a  spirit  embittered  through  a  sense  of  wrong 
done  by  organized  society? 

T,  But  the  psychological  influence  ema- 

ii /L  iv*  nating  from  the  attitude  of  the  state 
White  Man  .,  XT 

A  £    t  j  reaches  not  only  the  Negroes,  but  the 

whites  as  well,  only  in  a  different  way. 
The  white  citizen  feels  that  he  must  uphold  the  laws 
of  the  commonwealth  and  his  mind  begins  to  take 
on  such  form  as  is  necessary  for  upholding  the 
decrees  of  the  state.  Those  who  are  set  apart  by  dis- 
criminating laws  as  the  dominant  class  develop  the 
feeling  of  occupying  a  superior  station.  It  is  the  na- 
ture of  a  man  to  double  his  sense  of  being  wronged 
whenever  this  wrong  arises  from  a  creature  pronounc- 
edly beneath  his  level.  Remember  the  groanings  of  the 
lion  when  kicked  by  the  ass.  It  was  the  source  of  the 
kick  that  troubled  him  most.  So  when  the  state  by 
discrimination  bids  the  white  citizen  to  look  down  on 
the  Negro  it  is  doubling  the  capacity  of  this  white 
citizen  to  take  offense.  Wherever  state  discrimina- 
tion exists  it  will  be  observed  that  the  sensitiveness 
of  the  whites  is  quickened  and  that  the  sense  of  pro- 
portion as  regards  offenses  committed  by  Negroes 
is  destroyed.  Here  we  have  the  philosophy  of  the 
mood  that  has  sometimes  led  white  men  to  kill 
Negroes  who  have  seen  fit  to  say  to  them  yes,  in- 
stead of  yes,  sir.  With  the  situation  so  richly  ripened 
for  crime  by  the  course  of  the  state,  the  story  of 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  19 

the  evolution  that  follows  is  very  siir.ple.  The  white 
men  whose  duty  it  is  to  arrest  supposed  offenders,  en- 
ter upon  their  duties  with  their  minds  surcharged 
with  the  state's  attitude.  It  is  beneath  the  dignity 
of  an  officer  to  listen  to  a  submerged  unit  as  in  his 
distress  he  seeks  to  harangue  his  way  out  of  trouble,, 
so,  forth  comes  the  club,  and  a  bloody  head  follows, 
It  is  wholly  beneath  the  dignity  of  an  officer  to 
chase  a  Negro,  who  is  something  less  than  a  citizen, 
so  a  bullet  is  sent  after  the  submerged  unit  that  dares- 
to  flee,  is  sent  if  the  charge  is  simply  that  of  stealing 
a  five-cent  glass  of  milk  or  the  failure  to  be  at  work, 
or  yet  again  if  the  charge  be  only  that  the  party, 
though  unsuspected  and  unaccused  of  crime,  had 
the  hardihood  to  run  when  accosted.  Cases  of  the 
type  here  mentioned  could  be  cited  until  the  soul 
would  grow  sick. 

The  white  citizen,  now  mark  you, 
Negro's  is  more  prone  to  find  fault  with  the 

Troubles  Negro  in  an  atmosphere  of  state  dis- 
Greater.  crimination,  and  the  Negro  must  meet 

Power  Less,  this  increased  tendency  to  do  him 
harm  with  a  decreased  power  to  ward 
off.  When  a  mob  of  whites  approaches  a  jail  for  a  vic- 
tim belonging  to  the  submerged  class,  the  sheriff  must 
choose  between  serving  the  men  before  him  who  will 
meet  him  at  the  polls  on  election  day,  and  that  class 
that  can  exercise  no  influence  whatever  on  his  destiny. 
Often  the  temptation  to  care  for  his  future  proves  a 
potent  influence  with  the  sheriff  and  the  member  of 
the  non-voting  element  is  handed  over  to  the  voting 
element  with  the  thought  uppermost  in  mind  that, 


"20  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

while  the  voting  element  is  able  to  reward,  the  non- 
voting  element  is  powerless  to  punish.  So  the  sit- 
uation logically  paves  the  way  for  successful  and  un- 
rebuked  lynching. 

The  downward  journey  continues. 
Down!  Perhaps  the  white  man  who  formed 

Down!  part  of  a  mob  to  kill  a  Negro,  a  little 

later  takes  the  matter  in  hand  indi- 
vidually and  seeks  to  have  his  own  private  killing 
of  a  Negro.  Perhaps  he  is  himself  killed.  But  the 
right  of  self-defense  is  not  one  of  the  sacred  rights 
of  the  submerged  class.  Has  not  the  butcher,  the 
higher  animal,  the  full  right  to  kill  the  steer?  And 
is  not  any  steer  which  will  not  tamely  submit  to  be 
killed  a  vicious  animal?  Thus  the  Negro,  who  kills 
a  white  man  in  self-defense,  who  kills  righteously, 
being  of  the  submerged  class,  is  sometimes  lynched 
or  even  burned  at  the  stake  for  his  exercise  of  the 
right  of  self-defense .  These  in j  ustices  that  inevitably 
dog  the  footsteps  of  the  submerged  ones,  cause  heart- 
burnings and  ranklings  that  so  operate  upon  their 
spirits  that  the  soil  is  the  further  prepared  for  an  in- 
creased crop  of  crimes. 

But  the  evils  begotten  by  the  weak- 
Character  ened  position  of  the  Negro  in  the  body 
of  Whites  politic  are  not  by  any  means  confined 
Influenced,  to  the  Negro  race.  It  is  a  matter  of 
common  knowledge  that  it  is  now  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  convict  a  white  man  of  murder 
even  when  his  victim  is  a  white  man.  For,  the  jurors 
that  blunted  their  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  hu- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  21 

man  life  when  they  freed  the  white  man  that  murdered 
a  Negro,  have  had  no  moral  grindstone  on  which 
to  resharpen  that  blunted  sense  in  time  to  properly 
avenge  the  death  of  a  white  man  who  died  at  the 
hands  of  a  white.  Yes,  the,  character  acquired  in 
dealing  with  the  Negro  is  after  all,  character,  a  fixed 
part  of  a  man,  and  will  manifest  itself  in  every  walk 
of  life. 

The  Southern  white  dailies  are 
White  Worn-  beginning  to  note  the  alarming  num- 
en  Are  Suf-  ber  of  crimes  of  murder  and  vio- 
fering.  lence  against  white  women  on 

the  part  of  their  husbands  that  are 
being  reported,  and  are  tracing  these  crimes  to  the 
brutality  begotten  in  the  lawlessness  practiced  to- 
ward the  Negroes.  Hitherto  the  South  has  been  her- 
alded far  and  wide  as  the  home  of  chivalrous  regard 
for  woman-kind.  Not  long  since  in  one  of  our  South- 
ern cities  a  white  man  killed  his  wife  in  a  most 
deliberate  manner  and  without  the  semblance 
of  just  provocation.  The  estimate  of  the  value  of 
human  life  had  sunk  so  low  that  the  white  people 
felt  it  their  duty  to  call  a  mass-meeting  to  voice  a 
demand  for  the  punishment  of  the  wife  slayer, 
and  one  of  the  South's  greatest  newspapers,  located 
in  that  city,  began  an  editorial  crusade  calling  for 
the  man's  punishment.  Just  think  of  that!  Mass 
meetings  and  editorial  proddings  deemed  necessary 
to  secure  the  proper  handling  of  a  murder  charge, 
the  victim  being  a  white  woman  of  means  and  good 
standing!  In  this  same  city,  a  short  time  previously, 
a  white  man,  with  great  deliberation,  killed  four  un- 


"22  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

offending  Negroes,  remarking,  as  he  cooly  lighted 
his  cigarette,  that  he  expected  the  affair  in  which 
he  had  engaged  would  cost  him  a  little  law  suit.  This 
man  was  adjudged  insane  but  walks  the  streets 
seemingly  as  sound  in  mind  as  any  one  needs 
be.  Perhaps  the  wife  murderer,  seeing  the  ease 
with  which  this  plea  was  entered  and  sustained,  de- 
cided to  commit  his  murder  and  escape  on  the  same 
plea.  Thus  white  women  must  live  under  the  pro- 
tection or  lack  of  protection  of  whatever  code  is  de- 
veloped, even  though  the  said  code  is  developed  in 
connection  with  the  treatment  of  a  submerged  class. 
.  _  .  f  Has  it  ever  occurred  to  the  white  South 

that  the  presence  of  the  Negro  in  their 
Brutality  in  .  ,  ,  .  ?.. 

^.i.     i>i      j        midst  in   a   weakened  position  has  in 

the   Blood.          .,    ,,  -L.-T,          f  •     , 

it  the  possibility  of  introducing  a  pro- 
nounced strain  of  brutality  into  the  very  blood  of 
the  white  race?  Such  white  men  as  brutalize  their 
natures  by  their  conduct  toward  Negroes  must  look 
to  the  white  race  for  wives,  and  their  offsprings  are 
absorbed  into  the  general  body  of  the  white  race. 
The  white  race  furnishes  guards  for  Negro  prisoners 
who  sometimes  shoot  and  kill  their  wards,  and  some- 
times beat  them  to  death.  Policemen  and  con- 
stables, for  one  cause  or  another,  find  a  way  to  slay 
a  large  number  of  Negroes  annually.  Then  there  is 
that  vast  army  of  white  men  who  take  part  in  the 
various  lynchings.  These  men,  as  we  have  said, 
have  white  wives,  and  it  is  to  the  homes  presided 
over  by  these  white  women  that  the  husbands  go, 
straight  from  their  feasts  of  blood.  In  due  time 
children  are  born  unto  them.  Is  there  anything 
more  certain  than,  that  in  due  time  a  generation  will 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  .23 

arrive  possessing  in  a  marked  degree  a  strain  of 
brutality? 

A  Southern  white  man  discussing  the 
Signs  increasing  brutality  of  lynchings,  said 

Appear.  that  the  excesses  were  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  best  citizens  were  no  longer 
present  at  the  lynchings  to  hold  the  more  violent 
and  brutal  in  check.  Is  that  the  case,  or  is  it 
true  that  the  mobs  are  now  composed  of  young 
men  and  boys,  as  is  so  often  asserted,  who  have  been 
brought  into  the  world  since  the  prevalence  of 
lynchings  in  the  South?  Did  those  fathers  who  took 
part  in  bloody  orgies  a  few  years  ago  imagine  that 
when  they  retired  to  rest  in  the  early  hours  of  the 
morn  that  their  spirits  shed  their  bloody  moods  as 
readily  as  their  bodies  got  rid  of  their  woolen  coats? 
Does  the  extra  brutality  of  the  mobs  officered  by 
the  newer  generation  prove  that  the  fathers  got  rid 
of  the  bloody  taint  as  easily  as  was  thought?  Re- 
cently a  young  Southern  white  man  deliberately 
threw  scalding  hot  water  upon  his  mother's  back, 
and  injured  her  to  such  an  extent  that  her  life 
was  despaired  of  for  a  while.  Was  the  father  of  this 
boy  at  one  time  a  member  of  a  mob,  and  was 
this  boy  born  during  his  father's  career  as  a 
lyncher?  Who  knows? 

To  catch  a  further  glimpse  of  what  may  be  reason- 
ably expected  of  this  newer  generation  born  since  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  mob  in  the  South,  read 
the  following  news  items  typical  of  what  may  be 
found  in  almost  any  day's  paper.  "Thornton,  Ark. 
—News  has  just  reached  here  of  one  of  the  most 


24  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

dastardly  crimes  that  has  ever  occurred  in  the  history 
of  this  county. —  — ,  son  of  a  prominent  farmer  of 
Woodberry  was  shot  and  killed  by  his  wife,  to  whom 
he  was  married  less  than  a  year  ago.  She  was  not 
satisfied  with  shooting  him  once  but  took  three  at 
him,  and  then  cut  his  throat.  Those  who  saw  the 
corpse  say  it  was  the  worst  mangled  one  they  had 
ever  seen." 

Again:  "Gainesville,  Ga. — Because  he  remonstrat- 
ed with  his  son-in-law  when  the  latter's  children 
spoke  disrespectfully  to  their  mother  the  Rev.  - 
was  hacked  to  pieces  and  killed  with  an  axe  by  his 
son-in-law  at  the  latter's  home."  Were  the  fathers 
of  these  two  slayers  members  of  mobs  that  tortured 
Negroes? 

Quite  recently  the  white  people  of  Texas  and  those 
of  Georgia  heard  from  their  penitentiaries  and  were 
greatly  shocked  over  the  disclosures.  The  brutality 
revealed  staggered  them.  But  even  now  the  white 
South  has  no  adequate  conception  of  the  terrible 
brutality  that  reigns  throughout  the  prison  life  of 
the  South!  What  the  convict  guards  are  doing  is 
illustrated  by  the  following  newspaper  account  of 
an  incident  that  can  be  duplicated  almost  anywhere 
in  the  prison  life  of  the  South :  "One  of  the  convicts 
said  that  he  was  standing  close  to  Jamison  when  he 
was  fired  upon,  and  told  of  the  killing  in  the  following 
manner:  'Mr.  Reasonover  came  down  the  line  with 
a  stick  in  his  hand  and  told  Jamison  to  wake  up. 
Jamison  told  him  that  he  was  working  as  hard  as  he 
knew  how.  Mr.  Reasonover  then  struck  Jamison 
and  said  that  he  had  told  him  to  wake  up.  Jamison 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  25 

had  his  shovel  in  his  hands,  but  not  in  such  position 
that  he  could  have  struck  Mr.  Reasonover.  Mr. 
Reasonover  backed  off  about  eight  feet  and  pulled 
his  pistol  and  shot.'  It  was  shown  that  Jamison  had 
shackles  OP  his  ankles  when  Reasonover  shot  him. 

This  man  had  absolutely  no  excuse  for  shooting 
this  convict/  said  Judge  Edington." 

Again:  "Columbia,  S.  C., .  W-       -  S—    — , 

aged  22,  was  shot  and  instantly  killed  and  Mrs.  - 
dangerously  wounded  in  the  latter's  restaurant  here 
this  afternoon  by  -  — ,  a  convict  guard, 

following  a  dispute  over  a  bowl  of  soup."  These 
things  speak  for  themselves.  The  vast  army  of  men 
engaging  in  these  practices  are  also  engaged  in  pro- 
creation and  are  having  children  born  to  themselves 
daily.  Cannot  a  blind  man  see  that  it  is  only  a  mat- 
ter of  a  few  years  before  there  will  be  a  pronounced 
strain  of  brutality  running  through  the  entire  life 
blood  of  the  South? 

And  will  not  the  brutal  strain  once 
Entire  admitted  into  the  life  of  a  people,  show 

Life  to  be  itself  almost  anywhere  and  everywhere? 
Affected.  If  this  strain  ever  fully  comes  to  the 
white  South,  look  for  signs  of  it  in  a 
lack  of  reverence  for  aged  men  and  women,  in  the 
existence  of  a  marked  indifference  with  reference  to 
the  welfare  of  children  in  general,  in  the  increased 
insolence  of  children  toward  their  parents,  in  the 
low  estimate  of  the  value  of  human  life,  in  the  re- 
volting practices  of  mobs  which  rack  their  brains  in 
search  of  every  conceivable  method  of  torture,  in 
the  failure  of  legislatures  to  provide,  or  officials  to 


26  WISDOM'S  CAIX. 

enforce  adequate  laws  against  the  crushing  out  of 
child  life  through  employment  in  factories,  in  the 
efforts  of  sons  and  daughters  in  the  full  bloom  of  lite 
to  push  their  aged  and  infirm  parents  from  the  stage 
of  existence  ahead  of  the  natural  hour  in  those  hidden 
ways  made  possible  through  the  privacy  of  family  life. 
Yes,  if  through  that  class  that  brutalizes  itself  on  the 
Negro,  the  strain  of  brutality  creeps  through  inter- 
marriage into  the  entire  life  of  the  white  South,  look 
tor  the  coming  of  the  sad  and  shameful  days  here 
forecasted. 

The  loveliest  flower  of  all  the  South- 
Chivalry  land  has  not  been  the  velvety  red  rose, 
Doomed.  nor  the  beautiful  lily  of  the  field,  nor 
yet  the  magnificent  magnolia.  No, 
the  loveliest  of  Southern  flowers  has  been  the  flower 
of  chivalry,  the  tender  regard  for  woman.  When 
the  strain  of  brutality  comes,  this  flower  is  sure  to 
die.  An  imitation  thereof  will  no  doubt  be  seen 
abroad  in  the  land,  but  the  genuine  flower  with  all 
of  its  loveliness  will  be  gone  forever.  Yes,  yes,  the 
weakened  position  of  the  Negro  in  the  body  politic 
causes  the  existence  of  a  gap  through  which  lawless- 
ness and  brutality  enter  and  threaten  with  their 
awful  virus  the  actual  blood  of  the  white  South. 

In  yet  another  way  the  weakened 

Anarchy          position  of  the  Negro  is  threatening 

Headed  to  poison  the  life  of  the  whole  South. 

Southward.    The  pet  aversion  of  the  South  is  the 

anarchist,  and  its  one  great  boast  is 

that  it  has  developed  none  of  that  brood.     But  is' 

"this  true?     There  are  two  kinds  of  anarchists,  the 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  27 

believers  in  a  land  without  organized  government, 
and  in  violence  as  the  proper  means  for  the  over- 
throw of  organized  society,  and  the  philosophical 
anarchists,  who,  though  believing  in  a  land  without 
organized  government,  yet  would  overthrow  govern- 
ment only  by  changing  the  thinking  of  men.      The 
one  goal  at  which    all   anarchists  are  aiming   is    a 
condition  of  society  in  which  there  is  no  law  govern- 
ing men  save  the  sentiment  of  the  people  as  mani- 
fested on  any  given  occasion.     The  anarchists,  as 
stated,  would  attain  this  end  by  overturning  in  one 
way  or  another  the  laws  now  on  the  statute  books, 
but  is  not  the  same  end  attained  by  the  lifting  of 
the  spirit  above  the  law?    Has  not  the  South  done 
this  very  thing?    Before  you  can  move  a  race  of 
thoughtful,  civilized  people,  such  as  are  the  Southern 
white  people,  there  must  be  formulated  a  satisfactory 
philosophy  of  things  justifying  the  course  to  be  pur- 
sued.   What  then  is  the  philosophy  that  underlies 
the  tolerance  of  lynchings?    Here  it  is:  Whenever 
the  law  does  not  meet  the  prevailing  sentiment  of 
the  people,  it  is  perfectly  correct  for  men  to  do  what 
the  situation  seems  to  them  to  demand.    Let  this 
code  of  ethics,  formulated  under  whatever  circum- 
stances may  be,  become  firmly  rooted  in  the  minds 
of  the  Southern  whites,  become  a  part  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  it  will  finally  be  put  to  use  by  the  poor 
as  against  the  rich,  by  labor  as  against  capital,  by 
the  public  official  who  is  elected  to  enforce  the  law, 
as  against  an  element  desiring  the  law's  enforcement. 
The   outbreak   of   "Night   Riding"   in   Tennessee, 
Kentucky   and   portions   of   Indiana   are   but   the 


28  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

triumph  of  the  feeling  of  lifting  one's  mind  above 
the  law  as  it  stands,  and  the  substitution  there-f  or  the 
law  of  one's  mind.  This  is  anarchy,  only  a  quicker 
route  than  that  being  pursued  by  the  avowed  an- 
archists. There  is  no  killing  of  officials,  no  voting 
to  abolish  governments;  only  the  simple  lifting  of 
the  spirit  above  the  law,  a  thing  first  learned  in  deal- 
ing with  the  weakened  Negro.  So  this  is  the  port 
toward  which  we  of  the  South  are  headed,  the  living 
above  the  law,  therefore  the  living  without  law, 
therefore  anarchy.  So  far  as  the  Negro  is  concerned 
he  feels  already  that  he  has  entered  that  port,  that 
he  is  being  governed  largely  without  law.  But  the 
Negro  is  standing  upon  the  prow  of  a  ship,  on  whose 
stern  the  white  man  stands.  If  the  prow  of  the  ship 
has  entered  the  port  of  anarchy  bear  in  mind  that 
the  winds  are  yet  blowing  and  the  stern  will  soon 
follow  the  prow  into  the  port. 

When,  by  and  by,  the  work  of  long 
Philosoph-  ages  in  building  up  a  sentiment  of 
ical  An-  reverence  for  law  in  the  soul  of 
archist.  the  white  race  has  been  undone, 
when  the  philosophy  of  the  anarchist 
has  been  generally  accepted  throughout  the  South; 
that  is,  when  men  grow  to  feel  that  it  is  higher  and 
wiser  to  look  to  their  own  bosoms  for  the  law  rather 
than  to  the  statute  books,  when  each  unit  has  be- 
come a  law  unto  itself,  then  will  these  philosophical 
anarchists,  chosen  as  mayors,  judges,  legislators 
and  governors  feel  free  to  discard  their  oaths,  ignore 
the  requirements  of  the  law  and  the  mandates  of 
constitutions,  and  govern  according  to  their  own 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  29 

notions  of  what  is  right  and  what  is  best.  As  an 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  what  is  here  asserted  is  not 
some  idle  dream,  but  a  grim  reality,  note  the  fol- 
lowing editorial  utterance  from  a  daily  newspaper 
published  in  one  of  the  South's  most  noted  cities. 

Says  that  journal:  "The  head  of  the (naming 

its  home  city)  municipal  government  it  appears  has 
undertaken  to  designate  certain  classes  who  shall 
be  exempt  from  the  ordinary  operations  of  the  law. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  he  has  determined  what 
laws  shall  be  enforced,  or  at  least  what  laws  shall  be 
ignored  and.  nullified,  but  it  is  going  a  degree  further 
when  he  makes  a  discrimination  in  those  who  shall  be 
amenable  to  the  laws  restraints. 

That  the  Mayor  should  issue  individuals  of  cer- 
tain classes  exemptions  from  police  control  is  a  high 
handed  and  entirely  unwarranted  procedure,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  immorality  it  involves  or  the  purpose 
that  probably  induced  it." 

A  law  may  be  passed  against  gambling  but  a  philo- 
sophical anarchist  in  the  mayor's  chair  will  allow  the 
dens  to  flourish  all  around.  Saloons  may  be  abolished 
by  law,  but  officials  who  are  philosophical  anar- 
chists will  permit  the  existence  of  a  greater  number 
than  before  they  were  voted  out.  In  the  day  when 
the  philosophical  anarchist  is  holding  sway,  contracts 
will  be  let,  not  to  the  highest  bidders  but  to  favorites. 
The  results  of  white  primaries,  even,  will  be 
announced  in  keeping  with  the  desires  of  election 
officers  and  not  in  keeping  with  the  ballots  cast. 

That  the  treatment  accorded  the  Negro  is  to  bear 
fruit  in  the  direction  of  disorganizing  the  life  of 
the  whites  of  the  South  by  means  of  the  philosophy 


30  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

developed  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  turmoil 
existing  in  the  state  of  Tennessee.  For  months 
the  daily  newspapers  cried  out  that  a  condition 
of  political  anarchy,  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  the  state,  existed.  In  the  course  of  an  ar- 
ticle explaining  the  situation  a  newspaper  corre- 
spondent of  one  of  Tennessee's  leading  dailies 
said:  "The  fact  is  each  faction  is  mortally  afraid 
of  the  other.  It  must  therefore  be  shown  very 
clearly  that  there  will  be  a  square  deal  before 
anything  will  be  done."  The  Memphis  News- 
Scimitar  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  ably  edited 
journals  in  the  state,  speaking  of  this  same  turmoil, 
says  editorially:  "It  might  all  be  set  at  rest  by  agree- 
ing that  honesty  shall  be  the  rule  of  public  life,  and 
that  our  elections  shall  be  held  honestly,  and  the 
will  of  the  people  as  expressed  at  the  polls  shall  be 
the  court  of  last  resort. 

But  we  must  confess  that  we  are  a  long  way  off 
from  this." 

A  white  man,  the  president  of  a  college  in  the 
state,  in  speaking  of  the  Tennessee  situation  said : 
"The  trouble  with  us  is  that  we  are  afraid  to  trust 
each  other.  We  are  suffering  with  a  case  of  broken 
down  conscience.  We  broke  down  our  consciences 
in  dealing  with  Negroes  and  now  we  fear  to  trust  one 
another  because  we  know  each  other." 

There  is  only  one  way  of  escape  for 
Only  the  South.    It  must  lift  the   Negro 

One  Way       from   his   submerged   position;   there 
of  Escape,     must  be  no  points  of  necessary  weak- 
ness.    It  was  the  undipped  spot  in 
the  heel  of  the  great  Achilles  through  which  he  met  his 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  31 

death.  Weakness  anywhere  in  the  body  politic  will 
assuredly  invite  aggression.  Placing  the  Negro  where 
it  is  the  natural  thing  to  mistreat  him,  simply  means 
that  he  will  be  mistreated,  and  that  there  will  come 
a  disorganizing  of  the  souls  of  those  who  do  the  mis- 
treating. The  suggestion  that  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment be  repealed  is  worse  than  idle.  It  would  but  fur- 
ther and  inevitably  invite  the  aggression  that  de- 
moralizes. What  the  South  needs  is  not  a  weaker 
spot,  but  a  wall  of  uniform  strength,  with  not  a 
single  gap  through  which  lawlessness  may  spring 
unhindered,  and  begin  to  work  havoc  with  every- 
thing in  sight,  attacking  with  equal  vigor  the  things 
that  invited  it  and  those  that  did  not. 

Whenever  an  effort  is  made  to  in- 
A  Sup-  duce  the  dominant  element  of  the 
posed  white  South  to  revise  its  attitude  to- 

Impedi-  ward  the  Negro  with  regard  to  the 
ment.  suffrage  the  one  retort  of  the  past  has 

been  that  political  recognition  for  the 
Negro  will  mean  that  social  intermingling  between 
the  two  races  will  certainly  follow.  We  have 
demonstrated,  we  think,  how  the  weakness  of  the 
Negro  in  the  body  politic  invites  disease  for  the 
whole  body,  and  any  argument  intended  to  influence 
the  South  to  maintain,  increase  and  perpetuate 
the  weakness  of  this  spot  should  certainly  be  subject- 
ed to  the  most  careful  scrutiny.  How  is  this  alleged 
breaking  down  of  the  social  walls  to  happen?  The 
white  people  have  their  churches,  schools,  newspapers, 
books  and  the  fireside,  agencies  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  doctrine  of  racial  integrity.  Does  any 


32  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

one  pretend  to  say  that  the  white  people  of  the 
South  with  all  these  agencies  in  their  hands  are  so 
constituted  that  the  Negro  race  can  vote  its  way 
into  their  social  circles?  But  we  need  not  theorize 
on  these  matters,  for  there  are  states  in  which  the 
Negroes  are  accorded  political  rights  where  results 
may  be  studied.  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Missouri 
and  Kentucky  have  large  Negro  populations,  accord 
the  Negroes  the  suffrage  on  terms  of  equality  with 
the  whites,  and,  though  the  political  party  accredited 
with  traditional  friendship  for  the  Negroes  has  from 
time  to  time  been  given  control  of  those  states, 
there  has  been  no  more  breaking  down  of  social  lines 
than  has  been  the  case  in  Mississippi.  The  men 
who  have  come  to  the  front  as  a  result  of  the  one 
party  system  that  has  obtained  in  the  South,  but 
who  might  not  fare  so  well  if  the  strenuous  political 
conditions  obtaining  everywhere  else  in  the  English- 
speaking  world  were  introduced,  may  continue  to 
shout  that  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  the  Negro  will 
mean  a  passport  to  the  white  man's  parlor,  but  we 
are  of  the  opinion  that  many  of  those  who  make 
this  assertion  for  political  effect  are  firmly  of  the 
opinion  that  all  the  voters  of  the  world  would  not 
be  able  to  vote  the  Negro  into  the  Southern  white 
man's  parlor.  The  social  life  of  the  Southern  white 
people  is  projected  upon  a  plane  far  out  of  reach  of 
the  mere  ballot. 

Ex-President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  Uni- 

The  Two  versity,  is  of  that  political  faith  that 

Are  Distinct,    now  holds  sway  in  the  South,  is  highly 

esteemed  in  the  South,   and  is  the 

known  sympathizer  with  it  in  its  struggles.     Hear 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  33 

a  word  from  him:  "As  to  the  ballot,  it  seems  to  me 
reasonable  that  an  educational  qualification  should 
be  required,  and  that  the  payment  of  the  poll  tax  is 
also  an  expedient  condition  for  exercising  the  suffrage; 
but  whatever  qualifications  apply  to  the  Negro  should 
also  apply  to  the  white  man.  Political  equality 
seems  to  me  to  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
what  is  called  social  equality;  but  I  recognize  that 
the  Southern  whites  are  not  of  this  opinion.  They 
believe  that  political  equality  may  lead  to  social 
admixture,  or  at  any  rate,  to  an  assertion  on  the 
part  of  Negroes  of  a  right  to  social  intercourse  with 
white  people.  So  far  as  I  know,  this  belief  among 
Southern  whites  finds  no  support  in  the  practice  of 
any  nation,  or  part  of  a  nation,  in  which  a  broad 
suffrage  now  obtains,  and  I  regret  its  prevalence 
among  Southern  whites."  In  all  candor,  cannot 
the  thought  of  social  involvements  be  eliminated  as 
a  factor  in  this  matter?  Cannot  the  great  race  that 
overcame  its  belief  in  witches,  ghosts  and  hobgob- 
lins, grow  to  see  that  the  Negro's  ballot  is  not  a 
magician's  wand  that  will  work  the  wonders  ascribed 
to  it,  the  wonder  of  establishing  him  in  the  social 
circles  of  the  whites? 

Permit  a  final  word.  A  physician 
A  Final  has  an  operation  to  perform  on  a  person 
Word.  that  has  poison  in  his  system.  On 

the  physician's  hand  there  is  one 
slight  abrasion.  Without  gloves  he  goes  about  the 
work  of  operating.  Poison  from  the  body  of  the 
patient  comes  into  contact  with  the  physician's 
blood  at  the  point  of  the  abrasion  on  his  hand. 


34  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

Blood  poisoning  sets  in  and  the  physician  dies.  He 
was  sound  at  every  point  but  one.  The  better 
South  may  continue  its  heroic  struggles  to  rear  men 
of  courage  and  honor,  may  continue  to  send  forth 
into  life  its  quota  of  pure  and  noble  women,  but  all 
these  will  not  be  able  to  prevent  the  lawlessness, 
which  enters  the  life  of  the  South  bv  way  of  the  un- 
protected Negro  from  eventually  permeating  all  its 
veins  and  arteries,  to  the  death  of  its  fair  name  in 
the  earth.  Its  brooks  will  babble  on;  its  flowers 
will  bloom  on ;  its  skies  will  beam  down  as  beautifully 
as  of  old,  as  of  old;  the  chirp  of  the.  happy  cricket 
and  the  song  of  the  mocking  bird  will  be  heard  as 
in  the  past,  but  with  all  this  it  will  be  a  new  South. 
Anarchy,  robed  in  a  thin  disguise,  will  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  government,  and  the  eloquent,  the  bril- 
liant, and  the  famous  will  lie  wounded  and  dying  in 
the  gutters  of  the  streets  of  the  cities  of  the  South, 
and  men  of  high  degree  will  be  seen  swinging  in  the 
dawn  of  beautiful  mornings  on  the  borders  of  fresh 
made  lakes,  much  after  the  order  of  the  weakened 
Negro,  the  unarmed  picket  whom  Anarchy  easily 
thrusts  aside  in  her  march  to  her  Southern  kingdom. 

Let  there  be  a  uniform  citizenship. 
The  True  Let  all  men  have  all  rights  needed  for 
Solution.  self -protection.  The  sacred  right  of 
self-defense  is  as  necessary  to  the  moral 
health  of  a  community  as  is  the  punishment  for  mur- 
der, and  no  one  will  or  can  be  as  alert  for  a  man's 
protection  as  that  man  will  be  for  himself.  There- 
fore, let  the  Negro  have  the  ballot  as  a  means  of 
defense  against  negligent  officials.  Only  through 


WISDOM'S  CALL. 


35 


the  Negro's  ability  to  protect  himself  in  the  way 
common  to  civilized  society,  will  he  be  removed  from 
the  situation  as  a  harm-inviting  point  of  weakness. 
Strengthening  the  Negro's  position  in  the  body 
politic  is  a  far  better  policy  for  the  final  good  of  the 
South  than  is  the  proposed  policy  of  having  him  a 
permanent  point  of  weakness.  Let  all  political 
parties  North  and  South  throw  open  their  doors  to 
qualified  Negro  voters  as  to  all  other  citizens.  Let 
the  Negroes  enter  the  several  parties,  each  according 
to  his  conviction  on  questions  presented.  With  the 
importance,  prestige  and  power  that  will  come  with 
his  being  a  factor  in  the  government,  the  Negro  will 
no  longer  be  the  point  of  weakness  inviting  assault, 
.and  the  South,  the  nation  and  the  cause  of  humanity 
will  all  be  the  gainers  thereby. 


II.    A  LUXURY  OF  GREAT  PRICE. 


CHAPTER  II. 


A  LUXURY  OF  GREAT  PRICE. 


T,  It  is  very  evident  that  large  numbers 

.  of  white  people  in  the  South  yet  esteem 

it  a  high  privilege,  a  sort  of  civic  luxury 
to  be  permitted  to  thrust  the  law  aside,  dangle  the 
body  of  a  Negro  from  the  end  of  a  rope  and  fill 
the  swaying  form  full  of  bullets.  While  they 
realize  that  the  duly  appointed  administrators  of 
the  law  can  be  relied  upon  to  take  the  life  of  any 
Negro  condemned  to  die,  the  simple  death  of  the  Ne- 
gro is  not  what  is  wanted.  They  desire  to  have  the 
supreme  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they  had  a 
direct,  immediate,  personal  hand  in  the  taking  of 
the  Negro's  life.  Demonstrate  to  those  who  feel 
thus,  as  much  as  you  may,  that  lynching  is  not  a 
necessity,  you  are  met  with  the  thought  that  it  is  a 
luxury  and  is  to  be  indulged  in  as  in  the  case  of  other 
luxuries. 

Benjamin  Franklin  gave  to  the 
The  Price  American  people  many  little  sayings 
Paid  for  this  which  have  helped  them  wonderfully, 
Luxury.  and  one  of  his  exhortations  is  that  a 

man  be  careful  not  to  pay  too  dear  a 
price  for  his  whistle.     Let  us  now  take  up  the  price 

(39) 


40  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

that  the  South  is  paying  for  the  luxury  of  lynching 
and  see  if  it  is  not  going  contrary  to  Franklin's  ad- 
vice, see  if  it  is  not  paying  a  million  fold  more  for  this 
alleged  luxury  than  it  is  getting  out  of  it.  The  state 
of  South  Carolina  has  ever  been  noted  for  her  spirit 
of  independence  and  her  sense  of  strength.  She  it 
was  who  threatened  nullification  in  the  days  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  she  the  first  a  few  years  later 
to  lead  off  in  the  experiment  of  walking  out  of  the 
federal  union.  In  the  course  of  a  speech  delivered 
not  long  since  upon  the  floor  of  the  United  States 
Senate  the  present  senior  Senator  from  that  proud 
state  asserted  the  utter  helplessness  of  his  state  and 
section  in  matters  of  controversy  with  the  rest  of 
the  nation,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  South  in  point 
of  population  now  constitutes  but  one-third  of  the 
government.  He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
immigration  was  building  up  the  population  of  the 
North  and  West  at  the  rate  of  a  million  a  year, 
causing  the  augmenting  of  the  congressional  strength 
of  those  sections  equal  to  an  annual  gain  of  five 
congressmen  from  this  source  alone,  a  source  from 
which  the  South  is  drawing  practically  no  strength 
whatever.  With  the  North  and  the  West  already 
constituting  two-thirds  of  the  national  strength, 
and  going  forward  by  leaps  and  bounds  through 
births  and  the  influx  of  foreigners,  while  the  South's 
increase  is  limited  in  the  main  to  births  within  its 
borders,  this  Senator  foresaw  the  constant  and  rapid 
dwindling  of  the  relative  strength  of  his  section. 
The  white  people  of  the  South  have  from  time  to 
time  felicitated  themselves  upon  the  fact  that  they 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  41 

have  not  been  afflicted  with  the  undesirable  class 
of  immigrants,  but  there  has  been  immigration  of 
millions  of  sober,  thrifty,  industrious  foreigners 
who  would  have  brought  strength  to  the  South  in 
every  way,  immigrants  fully  able  to  purchase  the 
cheaper  lands  of  the  South  and  enter  upon  self-sus- 
taining careers.  But  why  this  avoidance  of  the 
South  on  the  part  of  persons  whose  coming  would  be 
mutually  advantageous?  It  has  been  due  in  large 
measure  to  the  fact  that  the  reputation  of  the  mob 
has  gone  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  and  has 
created  the  impression  that  the  southern  section  of 
the  United  States  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  huge 
spot  of  blood;  that  red-handed  murder  walks  our 
streets  and  promenades  upon  our  highways,  while 
justice,  terror-stricken,  has  hidden  herself  in  the 
deep  recesses  of  some  mountain  cave.  Whether 
justly  or  unjustly  such  is  the  reputation  that  the  mob 
has  given  our  bonnie  Southland.  Of  course  our 
editors  and  statesmen  can  explain  that  things 
are  not  so  bad  as  they  seem,  but  the  news  of  blood- 
shed is  telegraphed  to  many  more  places  than  are 
the  carefully  worded  explanations  as  to  what  the 
killings  did  not  mean. 

Another  form  of  damage  done  the 
False  Im-  South  by  the  undue  advertisement 
pressions.  brought  about  by  the  actions  of  the  mob 
is  the  conveying  of  the  erroneous  im- 
pression that  the  white  women  of  the  South  are  in 
constant  danger  of  assault.  It  has  been  demon- 
strated by  statistics  that  the  white  women  of  the 
South  are  relatively  safer  from  such  attacks  than  are 


42  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  white  women  of  Chicago  from  the  attacks 
of  white  men.  The  overwhelming  mass  of 
Negro  men  accord  the  white  women  of  the 
South  the  utmost  deference  and  respect,  and  the 
Negroes  on  the  whole  are  every  whit  as  ready  to 
shield  the  women  from  harm  as  are  the  white  men. 
They  are  the  sons  of  their  fathers.  They  are  the 
sons  of  the  men  to  whom  the  departing  soldiers  in 
the  days  of  civil  strife  committed  the  care  of  their 
wives  and  daughters;  the  men  who  in  every  instance 
proved  true  to  the  sacred  trust;  who  would  have 
died  to  keep  safe  from  harm  the  loved  ones  left  in 
their  charge.  Here  and  there  vile  whiskey  and  a  life 
of  debauchery  have  evolved  a  Negro  that  has  fallen 
so  far  from  the  common  instincts  of  his  race  as  to  be 
guilty  of  the  nameless  crime,  but  he  no  more  typifies 
his  race,  no  more  represents  their  overwhelmingly 
prevailing  tendencies  than  Benedict  Arnold  can  be 
said  to  be  the  normal  type  of  the  American  revolu- 
tionist. The  dust  of  the  mob  hides  from  view  the 
sober  faces  of  the  ninety  and  nine  faithful  Negroes, 
while  the  flames  of  the  burning  pyre  paint  upon  the 
sky  the  vicious  likeness  of  the  offending  one;  so  that, 
men  with  wives  and  daughters,  misjudging  the 
situation,  hesitate  about  turning  their  faces  south- 
ward. Thus  do  false  notions  of  the  relative  safety 
of  the  Southern  white  women  check  the  growth  of 
the  South. 

Let   not   any   one   deceive   himself 
Evils  with  the  thought  that  the  mob  can  be 

Travel.  maintained  as  an  institution  that  af- 

fects Negroes  and  Negroes  only.    As 
to  whether  the  South  is  at  all  to  have  a  civilization 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  43 

of  law  and  order,  even  among  its  white  citizens,  de- 
pends upon  its  ability  to  give  the  Negro  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law.  No  chain  is  stronger  than  its 
weakest  link.  The  dog  of  lawlessness  unleashed  to 
torment  and  devour  the  Negro  will  not  return  to  his 
kennel  until  he  has  also  throttled  the  master  of  the 
house.  There  is  a  unity  to  the  social  consciousness. 
The  public  mind  cannot  tolerate  a  given  state  of 
things  with  regard  to  one  segment  of  the  population 
without  having  a  growth,  perhaps  silent  and  unob- 
served, of  a  similar  line  of  thinking  with  regard  to 
things  far  removed  from  that  which  first  called  forth 
the  line  of  action  tolerated. 

The  men  who  invented  the  mob  to 
Cabin  and  deal  with  the  Negro  little  dreamed, 
Hotel  perhaps,  that  it  would  erelong  be  sum- 

Connected  .  moned  to  service  to  regulate  the  affairs 
of  a  Reelf  oot  Lake.  Let  us  recount  a 
bit  of  history.  'Tis  night;  we  hear  the  tramp  of  horses. 
Their  riders,  silent  and  masked,  reverence  for 
law  overtoppled  in  the  soul  are  piloting  them 
to  a  lonely  log  cabin  in  which  a  Negro  resides. 
A  few  moments  later  they  silently  ride  away 
leaving  the  swinging  corpse  of  the  black  man 
that  they  have  slain.  Time  wears  on.  The 
principle  of  adjusting  grievances  or  fancied  griev- 
ances by  the  methods  of  the  midnight  band  is  estab- 
lished, is  tingling  in  their  brains,  is  living  in  the 
thought  of  the  social  body  ready  for  emergencies  not 
originally  placed  on  the  programme.  Time  wears 
on.  'Tis  night;  we  hear  the  tramp  of  horses.  Their 
riders  silent  and  masked,  reverence  for  law  over- 
toppled  in  the  soul,  are  piloting  them  to  a  lonely 


44  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

log  cabin — no,  we  are  mistaken — this  time  it  is  to  a 
prominent  hotel.  When,  on  the  following  morning, 
the  state  of  Tennessee  awoke  it  could  hardly  believe 
its  eyes  when  it  saw  the  bullet-pierced  body  of  one 
of  its  first  citizens,  Capt.  Quentin  Rankin,  dangling 
from  the  end  of  a  rope  after  the  order  of  an  humble 
Negro. 

To  those  who  think  that  hiding  behind  logs, 
dodging  bullets,  fleeing  through  forests,  wading 
through  bogs  and  swamps,  suffering  the  pangs  of 
hunger  and  thirst,  dreading  the  sight  of  man,  are 
luxuries,  the  enjoyment  of  which  can  be  wholly  con- 
fined to  friendless  Negroes,  we  would  say,  "Ask  the 
distinguished  white  man,  the  partner  of  Captain 
Rankin,  Colonel  Taylor,  who  made  his  escape 
from  the  banks  of  Reelfoot."  Note  how  vig- 
orously he  shakes  his  head  to  let  you  know  em- 
phatically that  the  luxuries  mentioned  cannot  be  so 
confined,  that  they  will  eventually  pass  around. 

The  night  rider,  troubling  the  white  people  of  the 
tobacco-growing  regions  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
and  threatening  the  cotton  growers  of  the  South  are 
but  the  reincarnation  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  which 
was  devised  to  handle  the  Negro.  And  note  the 
fact  that  they  made  their  appearance  immediately 
upon  the  heels  of  the  recent  general  laudation  of  the 
work  and  methods  of  the  Klan. 

Yes,  in  one  way  or  another,  the 
Whole  So-  social  body  in  its  entirety  is  certain 
cial  Body  to  feel  the  effects  of  poison  that  it  ad- 
Affected,  mits  into  any  part  of  the  body,  be  that 
part  the  sole  of  the  foot  or  the  crown 
of  the  head.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  45 

those  who  shape  the  thought  and  policy  of  the  South 
should  hold  ever  and  clearly  in  mind  this  fact  of  the 
unity  of  the  social  consciousness,  the  assured  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  society  to  use  a  faculty  when 
once  acquired  upon  whatever  comes  its  way,  regard- 
less as  to  how  far  the  matter  in  hand  is  removed 
from  those  things  that  gave  rise  to  the  development 
of  the  faculty.  In  the  hope  of  illustrating  still  more 
fully  this  great  truth  we  offer  the  examples  that  fol- 
low. 

.A  few   years    ago   many   sincere 
Negro  friends    of  the  Negro  who   planned 

Shapes  for    him    the   broadest  Americanism 

Education,  and  desired  that  his  education  paral- 
lel that  of  other  Americans,  grew 
somewhat  alarmed  at  a  kind  of  education  which 
they  feared  would  tend  to  set  the  colored  man 
in  a  class  apart  from  other  Americans.  To-day 
the  Negro  is  not  receiving  a  special  brand  of 
education,  an  education  different  to  what  other 
Americans  are  receiving,  but  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  American  mind,  having  acquired  the  habit  of 
thinking  in  the  groove  in  which  the  Negro  was  being 
educated,  finally  decided  that  what  was  good 
education  for  the  Negro  was  likewise  good  for  the 
white  man,  so  that  now  the  schools  of  the  character 
discussed,  that  are  operated  for  whites  are  far  more 
numerous  than  those  conducted  for  Negroes,  who 
were  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of  the  system. 


46  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

It    is    the    very    irony  of  fate  that 
White  the     Southern     Negro,      unwittingly 

Woman  enough,  of  course,  blocks  the  path- 
Barred  by  way  of  the  Southern  white  woman 
Negro.  to  the  ballot  box.  Of  all  Anglo- 

Saxon  self-governing  commonwealths 
the  Southern  states  constitute  the  only  section 
where  women  are  wholly  denied  the  right  to 
vote,  where  not  a  breath  of  sentiment  seems 
stirring  in  that  direction.  In  Australia,  New  Zea- 
land and  several  of  the  Northwestern  states  of  the 
United  States  women  have  the  full  right  of  suffrage. 
In  some  of  our  Northern  and  Eastern  states  they 
have  the  suffrage  to  a  limited  extent,  while  in  Eng- 
land they  enjoy  the  right  to  vote  in  all  elections  save 
those  involving  seats  in  Parliament,  and  there  are 
powerful  influences  at  work  to  remove  this  one  lim- 
itation. In  Finland,  a  province  of  Russia,  there  are 
female  members  of  the  legislative  body.  In  the 
sections  of  the  world  named  the  woman's  suffrage 
movement  has  come  forward  upon  the  broad  plea 
of  the  membership  of  women  in  the  human  family, 
holding  that  said  membership  constituted  them  the 
equals  in  point  of  rights  of  all  other  members.  Claims 
for  the  political  rights  of  the  Negro  have  been  pro- 
jected upon  this  same  basis  of  equal  membership  in 
the  human  family.  In  closing  its  ears  to  this  plea 
made  in  behalf  of  the  Negro,  the  dominant  element 
of  the  white  South  attained  that  frame  of  mind  that 
has  created  the  peculiar  phenomenon  of  one  great 
English-speaking  section  existing  in  the  twentieth 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  47 

century  with  no  woman's  suffrage  question  with 
which  to  grapple.  So  here  we  have  the  attitude 
of  the  Southern  white  man  toward  the  Negro  so 
grooving  his  thoughts  that  it  never  occurs  to  him  to 
enter  save  in  a  fixed,  dogmatic  way,  upon  the  con- 
sideration of  this  question,  which,  more  and  more 
is  engrossing  the  serious  thought  of  the  civilized 
world. 

Thus  do  matters  spread.  Industrial 
The  Spread  education,  devised  as  a  special  need 
Is  Certain.  for  the  colored  youth,  in  a  few  years 
becomes  the  national  fad  for  the  white 
youth.  The  view  of  human  rights  adopted  to  re- 
strain the  Negro  casts  its  shadow  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  Anglo-Saxon  women  of  the  world  find  no 
word  of  cheer  coming  from  their  Southern  sisters  as 
they  carry  on  their  world- wide  struggle  for  the  ballot. 
It  is  true  that  the  dominant  Southern  thought  may 
hold  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  is  ideal.  Our  only 
contention  just  here  is  that  a  wholly  foreign  matter, 
or  the  line  of  thought  engendered  by  a  wholly  foreign 
matter,  is  the  controlling  influence  in  the  situation. 
And  so  will  the  virus  of  the  mob  spread.  It  may 
take  the  form  of  night  riding,  as  in  the  case  of  Cap- 
tain Rankin,  or  it  may  distill  its  poisonous  contempt 
for  the  forms  of  law  into  the  hearts  of  individuals 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  street  duel  will  be  sub- 
stituted for  criminal  and  chancery  courts  by  the  men 
of  eminence  of  the  South.  Laws  against  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  liquor  have  been  passed  in  the 
South  over  the  strenuous  opposition  of  thousands. 
This  work  can  be  largely  nullified  by  the  mob  spirit, 


48  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  spirit  of  ignoring  the  recorded  statute  as  the 
master,  the  regulator  of  the  citizen's  conduct. 

As  Americans  we  are  optimistic; 
Looking  we  believe  in  the  future.  Yet  we  do 
Ahead.  not  know  what  she  has  in  store  for  us. 

The  rich  may  grow  richer,  and  the 
poor,  poorer.  Financial  depression,  such  as  we  have 
never  before  known,  may  come.  The  pang  of  hunger 
may  be  felt  in  the  land.  Normal  processes  may  be 
slow  in  setting  matters  aright.  The  distress  cry  of 
wife  and  babe  may  ring  in  the  ears  of  the  man  al- 
ready mad  from  gnawing  hunger.  We  have  no 
great  standing  army.  In  that  dark  hour,  if  the  mob 
spirit  is  still  in  the  air,  woe  be  unto  this  nation.  How 
easy  it  will  be  for  a  maddened  shout  to  rally 
a  host,  if  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  be  present.  As 
the  hunger-crazed  hordes  sweep  through  the 
streets,  with  no  reverence  for  law  in  their  hearts, 
no  gleaming  bayonets  to  inspire  them  with  dread, 
well  may  those  who  have  plenty  in  that  day  turn 
pale  with  fear.  If  there  is  riot  and  pillage  and  a 
total  obliteration  of  all  regard  for  what  the  law  has 
to  say,  there  need  be  no  surprise,  for  the  seeds  of  such 
behavior  were  sown  when  the  mob  was  permitted  to 
trample  the  law  under  foot  and  wreak  its  vengeance 
on  the  Negro.  England  but  recently  entered  upon 
such  times  of  want  and  hunger  as  we  have  here 
pictured,  and  the  deep  ingrained  reverence  for  law 
for  which  she  has  long  been  noted  stood  her  in  good 
stead. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  49 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  what- 
Treatment  ever  trend  of  thought,  whatever 
of  the  warping  of  the  spirit,  whatever  bent 

Negro  of  character  are  developed  in   deal- 

the  Pivot,  ing  with  the  Negro,  are  to  become 
integral  parts  of  the  life  of  the  South, 
well  may  it  be  held  that  after  all  the  crucial,  the 
testing  point  in  Southern  civilization,  the  pivot 
around  which  all  else  will  turn  will  be  its  treatment 
of  this  weak  element  of  its  population.  The  lesson 
of  the  Bible  account  of  the  fall  of  man  is  not  without 
force  in  this  connection.  The  weal  or  woe  of  the 
whole  human  family  is  made  to  hinge  upon  the  matter 
of  eating  or  not  eating  an  apple.  This  concept  is 
true  to  life.  A  small  soulless  stone  can  derail  a  long 
line  of  passenger  cars  and  send  without  warning 
hundreds  of  human  beings,  including  the  president 
of  the  road,  into  the  presence  of  the  Great  Unknown. 
And  so  can  the  Negro,  even  in  an  inert  state,  be 
come  a  determining  factor  In  the  life  of  the  South. 
Will  the  future  find  the  South  with  a  well  or- 
dered civilization,  affording  soil  and  atmos- 
phere for  its  highest  self  to  unfold  and  expand? 
Has  the  South  the  ability,  the  strength  in  its  soul 
to  suppress  the  lynching  of  Negroes?  The  answer 
to  the  first  question  is  summed  up  in,  and  dependent 
upon,  the  answer  to  the  second.  Ere  it  is  too  late, 
ere  the  habit  of  lawlessness  becomes  an  ingrained 
racial  trait  to  be  handed  down  from  sire  to  sen,  ere 
we  behold  the  ugly  fangs  of  the  mob,  grown  sharp 
from  gnawing  the  Negro,  buried  in  the  vitals  of  our 
civilization,  having  reached  this  goal  in  ways  un- 


50  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

dreamed  of,  ere,  we  say,  it  is  too  late,  let  the  South 
rallying  to  the  cry  of  pulpit  and  press,  bench  and 
bar,  jurymen  and  sheriff,  grapple  resolutely  with  the 
mob  even  when  its  victim  is  a  Negro.  The  com- 
plete dethronement  of  the  mob  is  a  crying  need  of 
the  South. 

Permit  us  to  relate  just  here  a  dream 
A  Dream,  that  came  to  us  in  our  waking  hours. 
It  was  the  last  day  of  the  argument 
of  the  cases  of  those  accused  of  killing  ex-Senator 
Carmack,  of  Tennessee,  and  the  Attorney  General 
had  just  spoken  the  closing  word  for  the  prose- 
cution. 

All  eyes  in  the  crowded  court-room  now  sought 
the  face  of  the  Judge,  who,  through  his  charge  to  the 
jury,  was  to  take  the  next  important  step  in  the  great 
trial. 

Suddenly  there  was  seen  standing  midway  between 
the  lawyers  for  the  prosecution  and  defense  a  young 
man  who  at  once  began  to  address  the  Judge  in  a 
firm,  clear,  resonant  voice,  vibrant  with  deep  emotion. 

All  eyes  now  turned  toward  this  young  man. 
"Who  is  he?  When  did  he  enter?  I  did  not  see 
him  until  he  was  standing  where  he  is  now.  Where 
is  his  chair?  He  must  have  been  sitting,  else  I 
would  have  seen  him.  What  does  he  want?" 

Such  was  the  line  of  questioning  and  comment 
that  ran  through  every  mind  in  the  court-room. 

"May  it  please  your  honor,  I  have  a  word  which 
I  would  like  to  offer  before  this  case  finally  passes 
from  before  the  people  of  this  state,"  said  the 
young  man. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  51 

The  Judge  bent  forward  and  looked  intently  at 
the  stranger,  feeling  that  it  was  no  ordinary  personage 
before  him,  and  yet  unable  to  account  for  the  strange 
procedure. 

"Which  side  of  this  case  do  you  represent?"  asked 
the  Judge. 

"May  it  please  your  honor,  I  wish  it  to  be  clearly 
understood  that  I  am  not  to  touch  one  way  or  another 
the  merits  of  the  case  before  you." 

"Well,"  said  the  Judge,  haltingly,  "your  remarks 
would  hardly  be  pertinent  at  this  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, I  fear." 

"You,  honored  Judge,  represent  the  state  of  Ten- 
nessee, a  post  of  great  honor  and  importance,  but  as 
between  your  judgment  and  mine  you  will  have  to 
surrender  to  me,  for  my  post  is  more  exalted  than 
yours,  and  represents  a  superior  jurisdiction. 

"I  am  the  attorney  of  the  Cosmic  forces,  the 
forces  that  preside  over  the  destinies  of  stars,  of 
worlds,  of  men  and  things,  the  forces  that  determine 
the  paths  of  storms,  the  outbursts  of  volcanoes,  the 
rise  and  fall  of  nations,  the  forces  that  can  crumple 
your  proud  state  with  as  much  ease  as  you  can  an 
empty  egg  shell." 

The  Judge  and  the  whole  audience  were  so  thrilled 
with  the  young  man's  eloquence  that  they  were 
most  eager  for  him  to  proceed. 

Turning  to  the  audience,  the  young  man  continued : 
"He,  into  the  manner  of  whose  death  you  are  assem- 
bled here  to  inquire,  was  called  by  you  a  great  man, 
and,  independent  of  the  manner  in  which  he  met 
his  death,  you  regard  his  going  as  a  great  loss. 


52  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

"Without  expressing  my  approval  or  disapproval 
of  the  manner  in  which  his  life  was  taken,  leaving 
that  matter  wholly  and  absolutely  with  the  jury,  I 
have  come  simply  to  say  that  some  one  of  his  rank 
and  station  simply  had  to  suffer  violence,  or  else  the 
whole  system  of  jurisprudence  of  the  Cosmic  forces 
would  have  been  upset,  as  I  will  presently  make 
plain. 

"There  are  two  lines  of  procedure  along  which 
the  Cosmic  forces  deal  with  the  affairs  of  men.  We 
allow  those  who  constitute  the  governing  forces  of 
the  earth  to  choose  their  own  procedure,  but  after 
the  choice  is  made  we  take  charge  of  affairs  and  see 
to  it  that  whatever  happens  to  the  lowly  shall  happen 
to  the  high. 

"He  who  thinks  that  the  great  creative  force  which 
fashioned  the  universe,  which,  with  infinite  pains, 
put  under  the  reign  of  law  all  matter  ranging  from  the 
humble  atom  to  the  largest  of  the  distant  stars — he 
who  thinks  that  this  force  upon  reaching  human 
society  grew  careless  and  failed  to  arrange  laws  by 
which  society  is  to  live,  and  through  the  violation 
of  which  it  must  suffer  or  die,  is  vastly  mistaken. 
For,  whether  men  find  it  out  early  or  late,  there  is  a 
law  of  human  conduct  as  exacting  as  any  law  in  the 
realm  of  matter,  and  every  deed  that  is  wrong 
whether  committed  by  a  man  singly,  or  by  a  group 
of  men  acting  in  concert,  or  by  organized  society, 
carries  along  with  it  a  penalty  that  follows  with  as 
much  certainty  as  a  man's  shadow  follows  the  man. 
Wrong  and  retribution  are  twin  sisters,  and  wher- 
ever you  see  the  former,  know  that  somewhere  near 
stands  the  latter. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  53 

"The  Bible,  which  we  have  given  you  as  your 
earthly  guide  states  the  matter  thus:  "Be  not  de- 
cieved;  God  is  not  mocked:  for  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap." 

"Our  eyes  have  been  upon  your  Athens  of  the 
South  for  lo  these  many  years.  We  saw  and  mur- 
mured not,  when  over  yon  bridge  in  lawless  fashion 
you  flung  the  form  of  a  Negro  and  took  from  him  his. 
life. 

"We  saw,  and  murmured  not,  when  officers  of  the 
law  in  your  city  chased  a  Negro  youth  into  yon  river,, 
where  in  easy  reach  of  men  and  boats  you  allowed 
him  to  drown  as  you  would  a  common  rat.  We  saw 
this,  and  as  is  our  custom,  said  nothing. 

"We  recall  the  fact  that  one  day  a  Negro,  who  had 
been  fined  five  dollars  for  vagrancy,  was  trying  to 
improve  what  he  regarded  as  a  good  chance  to  get 
away,  when  one  of  your  guards  shot  and  killed  him 
for  which  offense  your  guard  was  never  tried. 

"On  numerous  other  occasions  your  officers  have 
killed  Negroes  who  were  accused  of  no  crime  what- 
ever, and  said  officers  have  not  even  been  required  to 
swear  that  they  were  telling  the  truth  when  they 
said  they  thought  their  victims  were  reaching  for 
pistols. 

"All  of  this  we  saw  and  murmured  not,  because 
it  is  our  habit  to  allow  men  and  nations  to  sow 
exactly  as  they  please.  But  we  take  charge  of  the 
seed  sown,  and  with  all  the  exactness  of  omnipotence, 
we  render  back  in  our  own  way,  what  is  sown. 

"Thus,  it  was  only  a  matter  of  time  when  the 
reaping  of  the  great  among  you  was  to  begin.  And 


54 


WISDOM'S  CALL. 


the  end  is  not  yet.  Remember  the  banks  of  Reel- 
foot  where  your  Rankin  so  bravely  met  his  end. 

"Oh,  bonnie  Southland,  home  of  birds  and  ever- 
blooming  flowers,  where  the  winds  blow  softly  and 
the  sun  in  peculiar  beauty  rolls  to  rest  in  the  evening 
sky,  surrender  yourself  if  you  will  to  the  pastime  of 
lynching  a  helpless,  perhaps  a  depraved  and  besotted 
Negro,  but  know  that  through  this  one  unprotected 
spot  in  your  armor  will  come  that  insidious  poison, 
disregard  for  the  orderly  processes  of  the  law,  which 
will  ultimately  send  your  noble  Rankins  and  your 
brilliant  Carmacks  to  untimely  graves." 

As  suddenly  as  he  had  appeared  the  attorney  of 
the  Cosmic  forces  vanished  from  the  court- room 
and  the  great  case  was  resumed.  But  the  lesson 
that  he  taught  upon  the  occasion  of  his  brief  visit 
is  with  us  yet. 


III.    THE    NATIONAL  POWER  AS 

AN  ASSET. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  NATIONAL  POWER  AS  AN  ASSET. 


Some  few  years  ago  a  Southern  white 
Individual  man  was  called  into  the  service  of  the 
Effort.  national  government  to  render  aid  to 

the  cause  of  his  country  in  a  matter, 
international  in  its  scope  and  of  the  most  far-reach- 
ing importance.  As  he  argued  his  nation's  cause 
before  one  of  the  most  eminent  tribunals  the  earth 
has  ever  known,  his  ready  flashes  of  wit,  his  erudition 
and  cogent  reasoning  made  a  most  favorable  impres- 
sion upon  the  world's  highest  circles  of  thought. 
Upon  his  return  to  his  Southern  home  with  his  in- 
ternational honors  fresh  upon  him,  he  was  duly 
banqueted  by  his  fellow  citizens  who  were  keenly 
alive  to  the  novelty  of  having  one  of  their  number 
attain  unto  international  fame.  In  the  course 
of  his  speech  at  this  banquet  he  remarked  that 
Southern  men  had  all  along  been  accomplishing  all 
that  might  be  reasonably  expected  of  individuals, 
but  conditions  had  been'  such  that  they  could  not 
harness  the  national  power  to  their  gifts,  which  at- 
tainment would  have  immeasurably  increased  their 
opportunities  for  usefulness. 

(57) 


58  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

What  a  carnal  weapon  is  to  a  man  en- 
Roosevelt  gaged  in  physical  combat,  high  official 
Had  a  station  is  to  the  man  who  would 

Lever.  bring    great     things     to    pass.       As 

matters  now  stand  no  citizen  of 
the  state  of  Georgia  is  handed  the  national 
power  with  which  to  demonstrate  his  use- 
fulness to  the  world.  Hence,  had  President  Roose- 
velt, whose  mother  was  a  Georgian,  been  born  and 
reared  in  that  state  he  would,  perhaps,  have  gone 
through  life  without  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States  as  an  instrument  with  which  to  demonstrate 
his  great  powers.  Strong  in  himself,  the  exhibition 
of  that  strength  so  powerfully  wielding  the  strength 
of  the  ninety  millions  of  souls  comprising  the  nation, 
will  give  him  a  place  in  history  that  would  have  been 
denied  him  had  he  lived  and  died  the  mere  individual 
unpossessed  of  the  national  power.  One  of  old 
asserted  that  he  could  move  the  world  if  but  given 
a  place  where  he  might  stand.  Theodore  Roose- 
velt was  given  as  a  lever  the  place  of  primacy  in  the 
world's  greatest  nation.  The  prestige  of  the  presi- 
dency gave  him  the  limelight  of  the  world  in  which 
to  stand.  Standing  in  this  limelight,  using  his  offi- 
cial position  as  a  lever,  he  moved  the  world ;  moved  it 
to  applause  when  he  brought  the  Russo-Japanese 
war  to  a  close;  moved  it  when  through  diplomacy 
he  performed  that  modern  miracle  of  converting 
the  potential  Americo-Japanese  war-cloud  that  hung 
brooding  in  our  western  sky  into  a  beautiful  white 
dove  of  peace.  Without  the  national  power,  Mr. 
Roosevelt's  work  would  have  been  that  of  an  in- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  59 

dividual  of  large  capacity;  with  it,  what  he  has 
achieved  will  stand  out  as  the  work  of  a  mighty 
nation,  speaking,  thundering,  toiling  through  him. 

It  would  indeed  make  for  the  uplift, 
An  Inspir-  the  inspiration,  the  glory  of  the  South 
ing  Force,  could  its  sons  and  daughters  be  given 
the  boon  of  dreaming  hopefully  that 
it  is  within  the  realm  of  possibilities  for  them  some 
day  to  have  the  national  power  as  an  asset  in 
revealing  to  the  world  and  leaving  on  record  for 
coming  generations,  the  full  fruitage  of  their  souls. 
Desirous  of  knowing  how  many  of  the  boys  of  her 
class  were  cherishing  the  hope  of  some  day  being 
President  of  the  United  States,  a  teacher  took  a 
vote  on  the  question.  All  the  boys  save  one  testified 
by  lifted  hands  that  such  a  hope  inspired  them.  The 
lad  who  had  not  so  voted  was  asked  why  he  did 
not  cherish  the  ambition.  The  little  fellow  replied: 
"It  ain't  no  use;  I'm  a  Democrat." 

In  his  heart  the  Southern  lad  of  to-day  is  saying: 
"It  ain't  no  use;  I'm  a  Southerner."  It  would  be 
a  tonic,  a  stimulus  indeed  to  have  the  hope  of  national 
and  international  fame  revived  in  the  South.  It 
would  serve  to  summon  into  the  public  service  the 
master  minds,  the  geniuses  that  wait  only  for  suitable 
conditions  to  call  them  into  full  bloom.  Washington, 
Jefferson,  Marshall,  Jackson  and  Calhoun  are  all 
products  of  the  South,  but  they  are  of  the  past. 
The  present  day  South  has  need  of  the  quickening 
touch  of  men  of  to-day  who  are  given  the  national 
power  with  which  to  do  great  things  upon  the  earth. 
In  this  question  is  bound  up  the  larger  glory  of  the 


60  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

South.  It  can  but  dwarf  the  spirits  of  its  citizens 
to  feel  ever  that  they  are  in  a  sort  of  outlying  prov- 
ince, doomed  to  serve  in  a  nation  whose  larger 
glories  and  rewards  are  denied  to  them. 

In  turning  its  thoughts  to  the  matter 
What  is  in  of  bringing  its  period  of  isolation, 
the  Way.  its  condition  of  political  exile  to  a  close 
it  is  well  for  the  South  to  meet  squarely 
the  question  as  to  how  far  its  attitude  toward  the 
Negro  contributes  to  this  state  of  affairs,  and  what, 
if  any,  modifications  of  that  attitude  can  be  safely 
and  honorably  made.  Surely  the  prize  is  sufficiently 
great  to  warrant  a  patient  consideration  of  the  ob- 
stacles in  the  way.  There  are  several  factors  which 
operate  to  withhold  from  the  Southerner  the  national 
power  as  an  asset.  The  one-party  system  of  the 
South,  the  absence  of  real,  genuine  testing  political 
battles,  the  comparative  ease  with  which  men  of 
mediocre  talents  get  and  stay  in  the  lead,  cause  the 
front  ranks  of  Southern  statesmanship  (barring  an 
accidental  giant  here  and  there)  to  be  composed  of 
men  lacking  in  those  qualities  that  can  compel  the 
admiration  of  the  nation.  The  Negro  is  a  factor  in 
the  situation.  There  are  certain  states  in  which 
the  white  population  has  been  in  the  past  almost 
evenly  divided  politically,  and  the  South  has  had 
about  an  even  chance  to  have  those  states  vote  with 
it.  Dissatisfied  with  some  conditions  in  the  South 
the  Negroes  have  gone  in  large  numbers  into  some  of 
these  pivotal  states  and  have  lifted  them  clearly 
out  of  the  doubtful  column.  Reference  is  here  made 
to  such  states  as  Indiana,  West  Virginia  and  New 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  61 

Jersey.  Even  states  that  were  at  one  time  certain 
to  cast  their  votes  with  the  South  have  been  rendered 
debatable  by  the  influx  of  Negro  voters  from  further 
South.  Missouri,  Maryland  and  Kentucky  are  in 
this  latter  class. 

The  influences  causing  many  colored  people 
to  leave  the  South  are  the  fear  of  mob  violence, 
lack  of  faith  in  the  courts  as  the  dispensers 
of  even-handed  justice,  inadequate  school  facilities, 
laws  aimed  at  disfranchisement  unequally  applied 
and  the  discomforts  encountered  in  travel  upon  public 
conveyances.  It  would  be  a  profitable  investment 
for  the  South  to  study  this  exodus  and  remove  every 
just  cause  of  complaint.  This  would  aid  in  keeping 
the  Negroes  in  the  South,  and  would  cause  such  as 
did  leave  to  carry  with  them  a  ground-work  of 
sympathy  for  Southern  aspirations. 

The  attitude  of  the  South  toward 
Unprepared  the  Negro  is*  a  factor  in  still  another 
for  World  way.  Our  nation  has  become  a  world 
Duties.  power,  and  must  deal  with  men  of 

every  shade  of  complexion.  There  are 
the  black  Haytian,  Liberian  and  Abyssinian;  the 
brown  Filipino  and  Japanese,  and  the  yellow  China- 
man. The  Southerner  who  does  not  hesitate  to 
proclaim  his  contempt  for  all  complexions  save  the 
white,  is  deemed  by  the  rest  of  the  nation  as  spiritu- 
ally unprepared  to  have  charge  of  its  foreign  affairs  as 
would  be  the  case  with  a  President.  In  sending 
men  to  the  Philippines,  to  Cuba,  to  Panama,  to 
handle  delicate  situations,  it  is  regarded  as  a  prime 
requisite  for  the  envoy  to  be  able  in  dealing  with 


62  WISDOM'S  CAIX. 

questions  of  state  to  forget  the  complexions  of  the 
men  with  whom  he  has  to  deal. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  Congressman  Hobson  of 
Alabama.  His  contempt  for  the  black  man  has  spread 
until  it  now  likewise  embraces  the  brown  man  of 
Japan.  Should  our  nation  be  inclined  to  go  South  in 
quest  of  a  young  man  to  whom  to  lend  the  national 
arm  with  which  to  display  his  soul,  and  its  choice 
should  fall  upon  the  famous  young  Alabamian,  we 
have  no  guarantee  that  he  would  not,  when  made 
President,  bawl  to  the  Haytian  minister  to  go  to  the 
back  door;  no  guarantee  that  he  would  not  kick 
the  Chinese  minister  down  the  steps  and  box  the 
ears  of  the  ambassador  from  Japan. 

The  rest  of  the  nation,  which,  with 
What  is  the  help  of  the  Negro,  now  shuts  the 
Asked.  South  out  of  the  national  accord,  which 

denies  the  national  power  as  an  asset 
for  the  Southern  white  man,  asks,  not  that  the  South 
turn  itself  over  to  the  control  of  an  ignorant  electorate, 
not  that  it  lose  its  racial  connection  through  amalga- 
mation, but  simply  that,  in  matters  pertaining  to 
citizenship  rights  it  deal  with  every  man  according  to 
his  individual  merit  and  not  according  tothe  color  of 
his  skin.  The  potential  glory  of  the  South,  imprisoned 
in  the  halls  of  the  future,  restlessly  walking  to  and 
fro,  anxious  to  be  emancipated  that  it  may  fill  the 
earth  in  behalf  of  the  section  it  craves  to  serve, 
awaits  with  deep  concern  the  final  verdict  of  the 
South  upon  the  proposition  to  have  one  law  and  one 
governmental  practice  for  all  men  regardless  of  race 
or  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 


IV.    A  BETTER    SYSTEM  FOR 
MAKING  MEN. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A  BETTER  SYSTEM  FOR  MAKING  MEN. 


Survival 
of  the 
Fittest. 


The  scientists  tell  us  that  through- 
out the  realm  of  nature  there  has  been 
one  long,  continuous  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, that  in  this  struggle  the  weak 
have  gone  to  the  wall,  leaving  the 
earth  to  those  that  proved  to  be  the  fittest  to  meet 
the  conditions  that  arose  in  the  struggling.  The 
species  which  now  exist  were  made  strong  by  means 
of  this  crucial  struggle  for  existence  through  which 
they  have  passed.  The  necessity  for  traveling  upon 
the  water  gave  to  the  duck  its  webbed  feet ;  burrowing 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  soil  gave  unto  the  mole  its 
nose  of  peculiar  strength.  The  greatness  of  the 
United  States  is  due  in  large  measure  to  the  fact  that 
here,  class  distinctions  have  been  abolished  and  the 
republic  has  been  operated  as  a  mammoth  field 
whereon  each  individual  has  been  made  to  battle 
against  all  comers,  if  he  would  enjoy  the  distinction 
of  occupying  first  place.  "Not  by  inheritance,  nor 
yet  by  favor,  but  by  prevailing  over  the  best  of  his 
fellows  shall  a  man  wear  the  victor's  crown,"  is 
the  decree  of  America  to  her  sons. 

(65) 


66  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

The  game  of  football  typifies  the  genius  of  the 
American  nation.  The  team  that  would  have  itself 
proclaimed  the  champion  of  the  football  world  must 
be  the  one  that  has  arisen  through  a  series  of  vic- 
tories to  the  point  where  it  gives  successful  battle 
to  the  team  which  has  come  up  to  meet  it  from  the 
other  side  of  the  mount  of  struggle.  Striving, 
battling  in  desperate  contests  with  forces  wholly 
unfettered  and  sent  upon  him  to  test  his  mettle  to 
the  uttermost,  is  the  native  air  of  the  young  col- 
legian, as  it  is  of  his  father  also,  toiling  in  the  sterner 
realities  of  life. 

The  value  of  such  an  atmosphere  of 
Well  of  struggle  is  at  once  apparent.  There  is 
Reserve  in  man  a  reserve  force  that  is  only 
Energy.  called  forth  by  the  strangely  quicken- 
ing power  of  a  crisis.  A  psychologist 
has  advanced  the  theory  that  every  man  carries 
within  himself  a  well  of  reserve  energy  which  he  can 
only  tap  in  times  of  dire  extremity.  All  men  who 
have  been  called  upon  to  struggle  supremely,  who 
have  encountered  crises  of  overwhelming  force  can 
testify  that  there  is  strength  to  which  the  soul  falls 
heir  only  in  the  time  of  peril.  In  the  supreme 
moment  of  struggle,  every  atom  of  power  is  mustered 
into  service,  and  verily  it  seems  that  a  new  being  is 
on  the  scene  in  every  way  outclassing  the  old. 

Preparation  for  battle  demands  the  careful 
strengthening  of  weak  points,  the  careful  development 
of  one's  powers,  the  thorough  discipline  of  one's  self, 
the  close  study  of  an  opponent,  the  eager  search  for 
possible  weaknesses,  eternal  vigilance  against  sur- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  67 

prise  from  any  quarter.     Thus  is  the  full  man  called 
into  service. 

The  political  life  of  the  North  and 
Elim-  West  is  projected  on  the  plane  here  in- 

itiating dicated.  "Sure,  I  must  fight  if  I  would 
Weaklings,  reign,"  must  be  the  refrain  of  the  man 
who  would  go  to  the  front  in  those  re- 
gions. He  must  win  out  in  a  contest  within  his  own 
party  and  must  then  face  the  people,  leading  his 
party  into  battle  against  a  strong  opposing  party. 
Thus  must  a  man  fight  for  his  political  life  up  to  the 
last  moment.  It  can  readily  be  seen  what  splendid 
chances  society  has  to  get  rid  of  weaklings  that  offer 
themselves  for  the  public  service. 

Time  was  when  like  conditions  pre- 
South  vailed  in  the  South,  when  two  strong 

Declining,  parties  vied  with  each  other  for  the 
mastery,  and  there  were  giants  in  those 
days.  That  the  present  one-party  system  of  the 
South  is  not  yielding  as  large  a  crop  of  able  men  as 
was  formerly  the  case  scarcely  admits  of  doubt. 
Thoughtful  men  in  the  South  are  seeing  as  much  and 
are  beginning  boldly  to  proclaim  what  they  see.  One 
of  the  most  eminent  thinkers  among  present  day 
Southerners,  the  Hon.  Hannis  Taylor,  says:  "While 
the  South  still  has  many  very  able  men  at  Wash- 
ington, the  comment  is  general  that  the  one-party 
system  is  thinning  their  ranks  every  year."  Presi- 
dent Alderman  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  verily 
a  leader  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  New  South 
has  given  it  as  his  opinion  also  that  the  South  of 
to-day  is  not  producing  men  of  the  calibre  sent 
forth  by  her  in  former  days. 


68  WISDOM'S  CALI  . 

In  a  wholly  incidental  way,  yet  with 
Striking  startling  clearness,  the  progressive 
Evidence,  movement  going  on  within  the  ranks 
of  the  Republican  party  has  empha- 
sized the  truth  of  what  these  eminent  Southerners 
have  said.  While  the  men  from  the  South  con- 
stitute the  bulk  of  the  opposition  party  whose 
function  it  is  to  lay  bare  the  weak  points  in  the  policy 
of  the  party  in  control,  yet  it  has  been  left  to  men 
within  the  Republican  party  to  make  the  great, 
illuminating,  convincing  speeches  that  have  caused 
the  nation  to  open  its  eyes  and  think.  Why  did  not 
Southern  men  gather  up  these  arguments  and  hurl 
them  with  dynamic  force  into  the  ranks  of  the 
American  people,  compelling  attention?  The  facts, 
the  arguments  were  all  there  awaiting  the  master 
hand  to  gather  them  up.  But  this  task  was  left  to 
La  Follette,  Cummins,  Dolliver,  Beveridge,  all  mem- 
bers of  the  party  in  power,  whereas  such  service 
was  due  from  the  opposition  party,  recruited  mainly 
from  the  South. 

Not  only  is  the  statesmanship  at 
Decline  Washington  being  dwarfed,  but  the 
General.  same  tendency  toward  enfeeblement 
is  seen  in  the  brand  of  statesmanship 
that  is  being  called  into  service  at  home.  In  com- 
menting upon  a  Tennessee  legislative  body  some- 
what recently  in  session,  The  Nashville  American 
in  the  course  of  a  carefully  argued  editorial,  had  the 
following  to  say: 

"The  weekly  press  is  almost  unanimous  in  its 
condemnation    of   the    late   legislature.     *  *  *  As- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  69 

we  have  said  before,  the  general  littleness  of  the  body, 
its  petty  conduct  in  many  instances,  its  trades  and 
combinations,  the  autocratic  methods  of  self-seeking 
members,  the  quarrels,  the  cheap  declamations  and 
intemperate  and  undignified  and  unwarrantable  pub- 
lic denunciations  by  members  who  should  have  shown 
a  better  sense  of  dignity  and  decency,  the  dishonesty 
in  juggling  with  bills,  the  unreliability  of  promises — 
the  general  record  and  conduct  of  the  body  marked 
it  as  unworthy  of  the  state  or  the  approval  of  the 
people.  What  man  of  established  reputation  would 
care  to  be  known  as  a  member  of  the  legislature  just 
adjourned?" 

When  the  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Taft  was  a 
The  Old  younger  man  he  was  called  to  the  South 
Order  vs.  by  his  official  duties,  and  while  so- 
the  New.  journing  there  he  came  into  intimate 
contact  with  many  of  the  South's 
giant  minds  which  were  bred  in  the  great  days  pre- 
ceding our  Civil  War  and  were  the  further  quickened 
by  those  stirring  times  which  tried  men's  souls. 
In  later  years  Mr.  Taft  as  a  cabinet  official  was  again 
brought  in  touch  with  the  leadership  of  the  South, 
and  he  could  not  but  note  the  marked  shrinkage  in 
the  brand  of  mentality  that  the  South  was  putting 
forward.  As  from  time  to  time  Mr.  Taft  sat  and 
conversed  with  some  of  the  newer  lights  which  the 
South  had  sent  to  Washington,  his  mind  ran  back  to 
the  days  of  her  giants.  Being  a  man  of  broad 
sympathies  whose  regard  had  been  won  by  the  many 
splendid  social  and  mental  qualities  which  he  found 
the  Southerners  to  possess,  it  gave  him  personal 


70  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

sorrow  to  note  the  falling  off  in  the  mental  equip- 
ment of  the  statesmanship  being  produced  in  the 
South.  It  was  Mr.  Taft's  opinion  that  it  was  the 
change  from  the  two-party  system  of  the  past  to  the 
one-party  system  of  to-day  that  had  dwarfed  the 
political  genius  of  the  South  and  was  substituting 
men  of  mediocre  talents  for  the  great  minds  of 
former  days.  Feeling  thus  with  regard  to  the 
South  and  fearing  that  a  solid  South  would  be 
answered  by  a  solid  North  until  one  of  the  political 
parties  of  the  North  might  die  and  leave  that  section 
also  in  the  hands  of  this  same  dwarfing  one-party' 
system,  Mr.  Taft  decided  that  he  would  so  conduct 
his  presidential  office  as  to  secure,  if  possible,  two 
strong  political  parties  North  and  South,  vieing 
with  each  other  for  the  control  of  affairs.  He 
realized  that  in  days  of  strenuous  conflict  there 
would  be  a  premium  on  strong  men,  that  both  sides 
would  seek  for  such,  and  that  the  result  would  be  the 
pushing  to  the  front  of  all  that  was  great  from  all 
sections  of  the  nation. 

"But  what  about  our  white  pri- 
Nature's  maries?  Do  they  not  furnish  ample 
Habits.  room  for  our  men  to  engage  in  the 
contests  that  breed  great  statesmen?" 
Such  are  the  questions  which  the  white  South  will 
naturally  ask,  and  we  shall  now  proceed  to  demon- 
strate beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the  white 
primary  system  does  not  meet  the  demands  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  political  genius.  In  view  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  matter  let  us  view  it  fundamentally. 
The  tendency  of  nature  everywhere  is  toward  a 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  71 

varied  expression  of  the  heart  of  things.  Out 
yonder  in  the  open  field  where  the  hand  of  man 
has  done  no  planting  we  find  the  flower  and  the 
fern;  among  the  fowls  of  the  air  we  have  the  beautiful 
bird  of  song  and  the  solemn,  hooting  owl;  in  the 
matter  of  the  seasons,  there  is  the  summer's  heat, 
and  there  is  the  winter's  cold;  in  the  realm  of  the 
emotions  we  have  joy  and  sorrow;  in  literature,  the 
realist  and  romantic;  in  philosophy,  the  epicurean 
and  the  stoic;  in  the  constitution  of  the  human 
family,  the  male  and  the  female.  The  minds  of  men 
are  not  all  cast  in  the  same  mould  and  they  do  not, 
therefore,  approach  subjects  in  the  same  way.  Even 
when  they  have  the  same  ends  to  attain  they  must 
approach  them  in  different  ways.  Charles  Lamb  says 
that  he  can  accept  as  true,  the  story  to  the  effect 
that  two  men,  who  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  each 
other  before,  who  had  no  grievances,  real  or  fancied, 
against  each  other,  met  and  proceeded  instantly  to 
pummel  one  another,  each  having  perceived  at  the 
very  first  glance  that  the  other  was  his  born 
antagonist. 

In  order  that  the  human  family  may 
The  Two  be  sure  to  move  forward,  nature  grants 
Types.  unto  it  men  of  a  progressive  turn  of 

mind,  men  eager  to  press  forward.  It 
is  this  type  that  we  behold  instituting  reforms 
and  inaugurating  revolutions.  But  the  human 
family  can  attempt  to  go  forward  at  such  a  pace 
that  it  will  lose  much  of  permanent  worth  that 
it  has  acquired.  Hence  the  need  of  conservatives. 
Conditions  are  by  no  means  what  they  should  be 


72  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

unless  there  is  opportunity  for  the  full,  unhampered 
development  of  the  opposing  orders  of  intellect. 
Our  country  stood  sadly  in  need  of  those  two  great 
opposing  statesmen,  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Thomas  Jefferson.  But  for  Jefferson,  we  might 
have  had  a  centralized  form  of  government  which 
would  have  prevented  the  diversity  in  state  govern- 
ments and  the  free  play  of  forces,  essential  factors 
in  the  glory  of  our  country.  On  the  other  hand  but 
for  Hamilton  we  might  have  had  an  aggregation  of 
states  void  of  that  degree  of  national  power  so  needful 
for  us  in  our  efforts  to  play  our  rightful  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  world.  America  is  proud  of  her 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  the  great  romantic  novelist, 
but  she  is  also  proud  of  Mr.  William  Dean  Howells, 
her  great  realist.  These  men  belonging  to  two 
schools  of  thought  radically,  fundamentally,  ir- 
reconcilably different  are  both  great  ornaments  to 
our  literary  life. 

One  of  the  most  dangerous  features 
White  about    the    "white    primary"    is    its 

Primary  misleading  name.  It  is  not  "white," 
Not  White,  is  not  a  normal  product  of  the  white 
race.  The  white  race  stands  for 
healthy  division,  not  unwholesome  congestion;  for 
freedom  of  thought  and  expression;  for  an  absolutely 
untrammeled  field  in  which  political  plants  may 
grow  according  as  their  respective  natures  require. 
By  calling  the  primaries  "white"  the  people  of  the 
South  may  be  led  to  feel  that  they  are  having  a 
white  man's  government.  As  we  look  out  upon  the 
world  to-day,  it  must  be  conceded  that  a  cramped 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  73 

one-party  political  life  is  not  the  white  man's  method. 
The  Germans,  the  French,  the  Russians,  the  English 
the  Spanish — all  great  white  nations,  have  more  than 
the  one  political  party.  The  South,  politically 
speaking,  is  the  one  great  group  of  white  people  that 
is  politically  one-eyed. 

The  narrowing  of  the  South  down 
One  Form  to  the  one  political  party  stifles  that 
Not  Suf-  diversity  of  development  in  which 
ficient.  nature  so  evidently  glories  and  by 

means  of  which  she  accomplishes  her 
tasks.  It  is  not  enough  to  throw  open  the  doors  of 
the  "white  primaries"  and  bid  all  white  men  enter. 
The  mischief  of  the  situation  is  in  the  fact  that  there 
is  but  the  one  political  form  provided  for  the  situa- 
tion, whereas  one  political  form  is  no  more  adequate 
for  the  expression  of  Anglo-Saxon  political  genius 
than  the  fern  is  capable  of  showing  all  that  nature 
can  do  in  the  way  of  flower  making.  Nature,  who 
carefully  and  with  wonderful  exactitude  arranges 
the  human  family  into  sexes,  seeing  to  it  that  there 
is  everywhere  about  an  equal  proportion  of  men  and 
women  born,  also  so  shapes  the  minds  of  men  that 
they  will  under  normal  conditions  fall  into  different 
schools  of  thought  in  such  proportion  as  is  necessary 
for  healthy  development. 

o  ~.  ,  The  suggestion  may  be  offered  that 

the  defect  here  pointed  out,  the  failure 
to  provide  for  all  orders  of  minds  is 
practically  cured  by  drawing  no  rigid 

line  between  the  whites  by  allowing  well  nigh  all  the 


74  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

whites  who  so  desire  to  participate  in  the  "white 
primaries."  But  this  does  not  provide  for  the  free 
and  untrammeled — mark  the  emphasis,  play  of  forces. 
The  primary  will  be  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
dominant  party  and  will  be  called  that  party's 
primary.  The  great  minds,  assigned  by  the  fiat  of 
nature  to  lead  the  opposition,  robbed  of  the  power 
to  develop  a  formidable  following,  must,  upon  en- 
tering the  primary  of  the  party  to  which  they  are 
opposed,  remain  very  quiet,  and  content  themselves 
with  the  simple  function  of  casting  their  own  ballots. 
For  if  they  become  too  active  they  will  be  seized 
and  cast  out  as  strangers  at  the  feast  who  have  not 
on  the  wedding  garments.  It  is  readily  seen,  then, 
that  when  all  is  over  the  political  field  has  not  b<~  ^n 
threshed  to  the  extent  of  its  possibilities,  as  one  side 
of  the  political  genius  of  the  race  entered  the  pri- 
mary lame,  halt  and  blind  and  was  required  to  speak 
in  muffled  tones.  If  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Thomas  Jefferson,  the  two  men  whose  opposing  and 
yet  blended  thoughts  gave  us  this  nation  that  has 
Hamiltonian  stability  along  with  Jeffersonian  free- 
dom, had  both  lived  in  the  South  under  present  day 
conditions,  and  Jefferson's  party  had  been  the  one 
overshadowing  party,  Hamilton  would  have  been 
practically  a  nonentity,  creeping  into  Jefferson's 
white  primary  with  his  one  vote;  and  the  common- 
wealth would  not  have  gotten  the  great  uplift  re- 
sulting from  the  sifting  of  things  to  their  very  founda- 
tions by  two  great  minds  looking  at  things  in  ways 
that  differ  fundamentally.  Hamilton's  activity  would 
have  been  the  one  thing  needed  to  stir  Jefferson  to 
do  his  best,  not  Hamilton's  one  quiet  vote.  But  Ham- 


\Yisi)OM's  CALL.  75 

ilton  could  not  have  been  active  with  any  reasonable 
hope  of  success.  His  very  activity  would  have  been 
used  against  him.  He  would  have  been  accused 
of  coming  into  Jefferson's  household  as  a  stranger 
to  seek  to  control  the  household  as  against  the  head 
of  the  house.  Hence  we  can  see  that  in  the  matter 
of  furnishing  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  all 
sides  of  the  political  mind  of  the  white  race  the 
"white  primary"  of  the  one  dominant  party  is 
fatally  and  inherently  defective.  However  strenuously 
the  South  may  strive  to  have  both  schools  of  thought 
to  thrive  in  the  one  camp  it  can  have  no  more  success 
than  the  keeper  of  a  zoological  garden  who  tries  to 
make  a  fish  feel  at  home  in  a  well  built  bird's  nest. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  the 
Discord  Democratic  party  as  constituted  to- 

Accounted  day  lacks  cohesiveness,  has  not  the 
For.  faculty  of  attaining  unto  a  sufficient 

oneness  of  thought  to  make  it  effective 
as  a  governing  agency.  Evidently  the  reason  for 
this  is  that  the  South  has  but  the  one  political  home 
for  the  white  man  and  men  who  are  ordained  of 
nature  to  oppose  each  other,  radically,f undamentally, 
are  forced  to  try  to  live  together  in  this  one  home. 
What  but  an  uneven  journey  can  be  expected  when 
the  mule,  good  in  his  place  is  hitched  to  a  racing 
cart  with  the  fleetest  of  race  horses?  Hitched  to- 
gether thus,  neither  the  mule  nor  the  horse  can  show 
his  real  worth. 


76  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

We  have  cited  elsewhere  the  fact 
Mistakes  that  individuals  have  in  themselves 
Ratified  Not  wells  of  reserve  energy  that  are  not 
Corrected.  called  upon  except  when  grave  crises 
come.  The  same  may  be  said  of  so- 
ciety. It  too  has  a  well  of  reserve  energy  upon  which 
it  draws  only  in  trying  times.  There  is  always  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  public  that  takes  but 
little  part  in  the  preliminary  skirmishes  pertaining 
to  civic  affairs,  knowing  of  no  evil  designs  and  pre- 
suming that  all  will  go  well  without  activity  on  its 
part.  This  group  constitutes  society's  well  of  re- 
serve energy.  It  sometimes  happens  that  the  few 
who  do  take  part  in  the  preliminary  affairs  are  cor- 
rupted, or  are  misled,  or  exercise  decidedlv  bad 
judgment.  Where  there  are  two  parties,  the  re- 
serve of  the  opposition  party,  seeing  how  the  good 
people  in  the  other  party  were  caught  napping,  be- 
stirs itself  and  sees  to  it  that  its  party  does  not  make 
a  similar  mistake.  When  the  general  election  comes 
off,  all  the  reserve  forces  go  to  the  polls  to  defeat  and 
teach  the  erring  ones  to  be  more  careful  in  the  future. 
But  where  only  one  party  exists  this  reserve  force 
merely  shrugs  its  shoulders  and  proceeds  to  ratify 
the  mistake  at  the  polls.  Thus  it  is  that  the  South 
must  jog  along  without  the  benefit  of  its  reserve 
energy,  against  which  mediocres  and  weaklings  can 
hardly  stand. 

».  Before  the  eyes  of  the  world  to-day 

p  .  there  stands  a  living  illustration  of  the 

.     ?  harm  wrought  by  the  one-party  white 

primary    system,    a   widespread    evil 

affecting  gravely  the  South  and  the  whole  nation. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  77 

Former  President  Benjamin  Harrison  once  said 
that  the  chief  difference  between  the  politics  of  the 
Latin  republics  of  South  America  and  of  the  United 
States  is  that  the  South  Americans  follow  men, 
whereas  the  people  of  the  United  States  follow 
principles.  It  was  his  opinion  that  this  following 
of  the  fortunes  of  individuals  was  very  largely 
responsible  for  the  unrest  and  upheaval  in  these 
republics.  To  the  mind  of  Mr.  Harrison  this 
disposition  to  follow  principles  and  not  men  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  traits  in  our  political 
life.  But  so  far  as  the  South  is  concerned  the  forces 
which  have  been  at  work  in  the  past  and  are  yet  at 
work  are  utterly  destroying  this  boasted  and  highly 
valued  difference.  The  contests  before  the  "white 
primaries"  are  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  purely 
contests  between  personalities  and  not  between 
policies.  The  one,  the  inevitable  effect  of  such 
conditions  is  to  reduce  the  politics  of  the  South 
almost  wholly  to  the  personal  basis  and  to  give  the 
Southern  mind  the  trend  of  deciding  its  course 
according  to  personal  attachments.  The  able 
exposition  of  great  issues  is  not  the  test  of  preferment, 
but  the  ability  to  muster  a  sufficient  number  of 
personal  friends  to  secure  the  party  nomination. 
In  a  contest  of  this  kind  a  cordial  handshake,  a 
genial  smile,  a  jolly  disposition,  the  knowing  by 
name  of  Dink  Hopkins,  Tom  Sparrow  and  Mink 
Bivins  are  of  far  more  consequence  than  possessing 
the  brain  of  an  Aristotle. 


78  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

The  Nashville  Banner,  edited  by  one 
Mr.  Bryan  of  the  most  astute  of  Southern  editors, 
and  the  said  in  the  course  of  an  editorial  that 
South.  the  hold  of  Hon.  William  Jennings 

Bryan  upon  the  South  was  as  much  a 
fit  subject  for  study  for  the  psychologist  as  for  the 
political  observer.  When  we  look  into  the  matter 
of  the  allegiance  of  the  white  South  to  Mr.  Bryan  we 
do  find  much  that  is  peculiar.  Advocating  prin- 
ciples wholly  at  variance  with  the  practices  of  the 
dominant  element  of  the  South,  silent  for  years  upon 
the  matter  of  the  white  South's  attitude  toward  the 
Negro  voter — the  South's  one  great  question — that 
section  has  nevertheless  insisted  upon  Mr.  Bryan's 
nomination  for  the  presidency,  has  steadily  cast  her 
votes  for  him,  and  has  just  as  steadily  elected  men 
to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  who 
have  with  equal  steadiness  voted  against  some  of 
Mr.  Bryan's  favorite  policies.  Such  devotion  to  the 
personal  fortunes  of  a  man  is  perhaps  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  the  politics  of  the  English 
speaking  race  in  modern  times.  When  the  soci- 
ologists of  the  future  take  up  our  era  and  study 
this  phenomenon  let  them  not  fail  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  absence  of  a  normal  political  Jife  in 
the  South  caused  nearly  all  contests  to  be  battles 
between  personalities,  caused  the  Southern  mind 
to  be  thrown  to  the  personal  basis,  which  basis 
allows  men's  personalities  to  assume  large  propor- 
tions in  their  minds,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  considera- 
tion of  separating  principles.  There  are  many 
thoughtful  minds  that  contend  that  it  is  this  personal 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  79 

devotion  to  Mr.  Bryan — not  to  his  principles,  but  to 
him,  that  is  the  chief  factor  in  the  way  of  building  up 
a  strong  opposition  party  in  the  nation.  The  person- 
al politics  of  the  South  have  about  South  American- 
ized it,  save  of  course  as  to  the  armed  revolutions  of 
such  frequent  occurrence. 

Pause  to  think  what  this  means! 
Endangers  The  vast  interests  of  the  South  and  of 
Political  the  nation  are  subjected  to  the  decrees 
Efficiency,  of  a  voting  element  that  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  is  being  trained  by  its 
system  of  politics  to  move  along  the  line  of  personal 
attachments.  The  tendency  fully  acquired,  pushes 
forward  and  makes  itself  manifest  when  vast  and 
vital  interests  are  involved.  Of  course  it  is  hardly 
to  be  feared  that  the  tendency  to  follow  men  rather 
than  principles  will  at  any  time  lead  to  a  clash  of  arms 
in  our  country  as  in  South  America,  but  the  habit 
of  mind  engendered  by  voting  according  to  personal 
attachments  will  however  very  materially  impair 
the  political  efficiency  of  any  group  that  indulges  it. 
We  shall  now  cite  a  case  that  will  clearly  illustrate 
the  vast  importance  of  the  point  here  made.  Wm. 
H.  Seward  was  the  personal  choice  of  the  majority 
of  the  delegates  to  the  convention  that  nominated 
Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  presidency.  Lincoln" 
often  remarked  jocularly,  yet  truthfully,  that  he 
had  the  honor  of  being  nominated  by  a  convention 
that  wanted  "the  other  fellow."  When  the  dele- 
gates became  convinced  that  Seward,  the  man  around 
whom  their  affections  were  entwined  would  in  all 
likelihood  meet  defeat  at  the  polls  on  account  of  the 


80  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

antagonism  of  the  then  powerful  "Know  Nothing" 
element  they  agreed  to  drop  him  and  accept  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  as  a  substitute.  If  these  delegates  had 
been  operating  along  the  lines  of  personal  attach- 
ments Lincoln  would  not  have  been  nominated  and 
the  nation  would  have  been  deprived  of  the  services 
of  this  man  of  destiny,  this  giant  soul  who  steered 
the  nation  through  the  stormy  Civil  War  period,  and 
steered  himself  eternally  into  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  the  North  and  of  the  South  alike.  But  for  the 
fact  that  the  white  South  has  been  largely  twisted 
toward  a  basis  of  personal  attachment  is  it  not  possi- 
ble that  it  would  have  long  since  acted  toward  Mr. 
Bryan  as  the  Northerners  did  toward  Seward?  Is 
it  not  a  psychological  fact  that  the  one-party,  "white 
primary,"  no  issue  policy  of  the  South  has  at  last 
sunk  the  South  into  the  quagmire  of  personal  at- 
tachments, to  the  serious  impairment  of  its  political 
efficiency?  Let  the  white  South  think  seriously  on 
this  matter. 

As   a   striking   illustration   of   the 

Typical  manner  in    which    personal    politics 

Campaign,     flourish  and  bear  fruit  under  existing 

conditions  in  the  South,  we  cite  the 

following  editorial  from  The  Nashville  American: 

"The  municipal  campaign  in  Nashville  this  year, 
like  so  many  in  the  past,  does  not  seem  to  hinge 
upon  the  capabilities  of  those  seeking  office,  but 
upon  the  power  and  ingenuity  with  which  one  candi- 
date can  assail  the  candidacy  of  his  opponent  or 
opponents.  Once  in  a  while  a  candidate  may 
advance  a  suggestion  looking  to  the  city's  material 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  81 

welfare,  but  in  the  main  the  speeches  are  all  devoted 
to  the  other  fellow's  failings  or  alleged  failings. 

What  has  this  to  do  with  municipal  government? 

Who  cares  a  continental  what  one  candidate 
thinks  about  another,  or  what  one  candidate  says 
about  another? 

What  have  opinions  of  individuals  to  do  with  the 
expenditure  of  the  million  and  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars  poured  into  the  treasury  every 
year  by  the  taxpayers? 

The  American  does  not  seek  to  decry  candidates 
for  municipal  offices.  It  does  not  seek  to  hold  them 
up  before  the  public  as  a  lot  of  incapables. 

But  in  not  one  single  speech  delivered  so  far  in  the 
campaign  has  there  been  a  semblance  of  suggestion 
that  would  help  Nashville  or  encourage  the  hope  of 
wise  and  economical  government.  On  the  contrary 
the  campaign  so  far  has  been  one  of  criticism  of  one 
or  the  other  candidates  by  the  opposing  candidate. 

One  man  works  himself  into  a  frenzy  over  law 
enforcement.  His  opponent,  seizing  the  cue,  en- 
deavors to  go  him  one  better  along  the  same  line. 
Another  candidate  says  his  opponent,  an  office- 
holder, voted  to  give  'Steenth  ward  a  sewer  and  voted 
against  giving  another  ward  needed  improvements. 
The  campaign  is  all  personal.  It  is  self-glori- 
fication on  the  one  hand,  and  criticism  on  the  other. 

The  real  needs  of  the  city  are  never  touched. 
What  will  or  will  not  be  of  advantage  to  the  com- 
munity which  pays  the  salaries  these  candidates  are 
all  striving  to  reach  is  not  of  moment. 

And  strange  and  unaccountable  as  it  may  seem, 
the  crowds  which  stand  around  the  speaking  booths 


82  WISDOM'S  CAU» 

applaud  personal  attacks  of  the  one  candidate  upon 
the  other  and  at  the  same  time  hardly  ever  realize, 
after  it  is  all  over,  that  none  of  the  speakers 
advanced  a  suggestion,  idea  or  thought  that  made  for 
betterment  of  the  city  government. 

And  The  American  is  not  interested  in  the  success 
of  a  single  candidate  in  this  primary,  but  it  does  have 
a  very  great  interest  in  Nashville.  It  would  like  very 
much  to  see  men  in  the  field,  who  could  point  out 
our  shortcomings  as  a  city  'and  suggest  wise  and 
practicable  remedies,  men  who  know  the  city's  needs 
and  its  resources,  and  who  can  show  how  to  cut  the 
cloth  to  suit  the  public  pocket.  There  is  no  public 
advantage  to  accrue  from  crimination  and  re- 
crimination. Nothing  tangible  comes  from  this 
sort  of  campaigning.  What  the  people  should  be 
told  is  whether  A  or  B  or  C  can  give  them  proper 
government  at  the  lowest  possible  expenditure. 
They  want  to  know  how  their  taxes  can  be  reduced ; 
how  they  are  to  get  more  streets  and  sewers  and 
lights;  how  the  police  and  fire  service  is  to  be  im- 
proved. These  are  the  things  they  are  interested  in, 
or  should  be  interested  in,  not  what  Tom  thinks  of 
Harry  or  vice  versa." 

Nashville,  Tennessee   is   the   great 
The  educational  center  of   the  South,   is 

System.  thought  by  many  to  be  the  most 
cultured  city  below  the  Mason  and 
Dixon  line,  and  yet  we  have  the  above  lament  from 
its  chief  organ  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  childish 
plane  upon  which  the  political  life  of  the  city  is 
projected.  The  fault  is  not  with  the  candidates, 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  83 

nor  yet  with  the  people,  whom  the  paper  chides  for 
their  tolerance  of  the  style  of  campaigning  indulged 
in,  but  with  the  system  under  which  the  South  is 
seeking  to  move  forward,  which  drags  political  life 
to  the  basis  of  personalities  as  surely  as  the  law  of 
gravitation  drew  that  apple  to  the  head  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  the  Southern 
situation  and  can  be  no  more  set  aside  than  can 
be  this  same  law  of  gravitation. 

When  politics  descends  to  the  simple 
Strong  level  of  a  scramble  for  office  on  the 

Minds  basis  of  personal  friendship,  men  of 

Disgusted,  large  minds  then  steer  clear  thereof. 
Big  ships  avoid  shallow  streams  and 
great  souls  cannot  be  expected  to  take  part  in  these 
personal  scrambles.  Thus  we  have  another  weakening 
influence  of  the  situation,  the  driving  of  the  larger 
minds  away  from  civic  affairs. 

An  editorial  pertinent  to  the  point  here  raised  was 
published  recently  in  the  Memphis  Commercial 
Appeal.  It  was  headed  "Just  Suppose"  and  ran  as 
follows: 

"Over  a  thousand  men  went  into  and  out  of  the 
Business  Men's  Club  yesterday  and  took  part  in  the 
election.  The  candidates  themselves  were  active 
all  day,  and  their  friends  were  active,  and  interest 
was  at  white  heat  from  daylight  until  sundown. 

The  leading  citizens  of  Memphis  took  part  in  this 
election.  Perhaps  one-half  of  the  taxable  wealth  of 
this  city  was  represented  by  the  voters. 

Suppose  the  people  of  Memphis  took  as  much  in- 
terest in  the  election  of  candidates  for  political 


84  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

offices  as  they  do  in  the  election  of  officers  of  the 
Business  Men's  Club.  Then  what? 

Men  of  the  highest  character  are  on  both  tickets. 
Some  are  heavy  taxpayers,  and  some  are  salaried 
men,  but  all  are  alert,  keen  and  aggressive. 

Just  suppose  that  such  men  would  offer  for  county, 
city  and  state  offices.  Suppose  all  voters  were  as 
active  at  the  polls  as  at  the  Business  Men's  Club. 
Then,  indeed,  would  we  have  in  the  state,  county, 
and  city,  in  the  courts  of  law,  in  the  legislature, 
effective  men. 

We  talk  about  the  influence  in  politics  of  the  bad 
elements.  The  bad  elements  do  influence  politics 
greatly,  but  they  are  merely  taking  a  hand  because 
the  good  citizens  themselves  are  indifferent  or  re- 
fuse to  do  the  work." 

But  what  more  can  be  expected  under  the  present 
system!  Two  strong  healthy  parties  are  needed. 
The  South  may  lift  its  voice  in  loud  lament  over  the 
failure  of  great  minds  to  come  to  the  front,  may 
smite  its  breast,  put  on  sack-cloth,  and  toss  the  ashes 
of  sorrow  upon  its  head,  but  things  will  move  on  as 
at  present,  move  downward,  downward,  until  the 
peanut  politicians  and  the  peanut  minds  and  the 
peanut  methods  have  made  of  the  South,  a  paradise 
of  mediocres,  the  place  in  which  great  minds  cannot 
flourish,  the  one  Dead  Sea  of  the  modern  political 
world  along  whose  shores  no  flower  of  political 
genius  is  allowed  to  thrive. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  85 

There  was  an  element  of  the  pathetic 
Seeking  to  in  the  journeying  of  that  Memphis, 
Import  Tenn.,  delegation  to  Washington,  D.  C., 
Greatness,  to  invite,  to  urge,  to  persuade  the  Hon. 
Wm.  Jennings  Bryan  to  abandon  his 
Nebraska  home  and  come  to  Memphis.  The  white 
South  boasts  of  the  purity  of  its  Anglo-Saxon  blood , 
claims  that  it  is  the  most  truly  Anglo-Saxon  section 
of  the  American  people.  Why,  then,  with  all  of 
this  richness  of  blood  can  it  not  manufacture  great 
men  rather  than  import  them?  Mr.  Bryan  refused 
to  come  to  Memphis  to  reside.  That  city  could  offer 
to  him  political  preferment,  unswerving  loyalty, 
social  attentions  galore,  and  an  opportunity  to  earn 
millions  of  dollars,  but  under  existing  conditions  it 
could  not  give  the  atmosphere  that  breeds  greatness 
in  men.  Blessed  is  that  man  who  is  so  situated 
that  his  environments  call  into  service  all  that  is 
great  within  him,  and  accursed  is  that  man,  what- 
ever his  food,  raiment,  or  lineage  whose  environ- 
ments issue  no  such  call  for  the  powers  of  his  soul. 
Out  in  the  great  West  where  Mr.  Bryan  resides,  men 
cannot  hide  behind  party  names,  cannot  be  sure 
that  the  halo  of  some  fond  tradition  will  secure  the 
ratification  at  the  polls  of  all  blunders  however  grave. 
Out  there  men  must  appeal  to  the  judgment  and 
consciences  of  their  fellows,  must  be  able  to  meet 
in  fair  and  open  fight  men  of  opposing  schools  of 
thought,  who  have  an  equal  chance  to  do  battle  for 
their  convictions.  It  was  upon  this  Darwinian  field 
of  political  battle  that  Mr.  Bryan  grew  to  greatness. 
It  was  there  that  he  was  forced  to  draw  upon  every 


36  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

drop  of  his  well  of  reserve  energy,  knowing  full  well 
that  not  an  inch  of  standing  room  would  be  accorded 
him  except  such  as  he  conquered  and  held  by  the 
strength  of  his  own  soul.  And,  thus,  when  he  was 
asked  to  leave  and  come  to  a  land  where  the  one- 
party  practice  was  slowly  but  surely  murdering  the 
political  genius  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  he  answered, 
No. 

We  hear  much  of  the  havoc  being 
Medioc-  wrought  in  the  South  by  the  boll  weevil, 
rity's  Path  how  it  bores  into  the  boll  and  saps  the 
to  the  life  out  of  the  plant,  but  it  is  far  less 

Throne.  dangerous  to  the  South  and  to  the  na- 
tion than  the  insect  of  personal  politics 
that  creeps  into  the  minds  of  men  and  eats  away 
that  consideration  of  great  questions  that  has  hither- 
to wrought  mightily  in  the  upbuilding  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  institutions.  In  a  very  direct  manner  the 
welfare  of  the  entire  nation  is  bound  up  in  this  mat- 
ter of  producing  statesmen  in  the  South.  Let  us 
suppose  that  the  processes  which  we  have  outlined 
become  general  throughout  the  South  and  the  small 
minds  worm  themselves  to  the  front  and  secure 
seats  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Though 
they  fall  far  short  of  representing  the  South  at  its 
best,  by  the  same  methods  used  to  get  to  the  front 
they  can  manage  to  stay  there.  The  Congressmen 
from  other  sections  are  tried  first  in  their  own  pri- 
maries, and  later  in  a  general  election,  and  a  sifting, 
and  eliminating  process  is  constantly  going  on, 
but  these  men  from  the  South  escape  the  second 
fiery  test  at  least  and  have  the  greater  chance  to 
remain.  By  the  mere  lapse  of  time  they  are  car- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  87 

ried  forward  to  seniority  on  the  great  committees 
which  really  shape  legislation.  Finally  in  the  course 
of  time,  the  rest  of  the  nation  unwilling  to  continue 
one  party  in  power  for  too  long  a  period  summons 
the  opposition  party  to  take  over  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment. The  men  from  the  South  who  have  come  to 
the  front  and  remained  there  after  the  manner  des- 
cribed, by  virtue  of  their  long  stay  are  made  chair- 
men of  the  important  committees  and  thus  assume 
charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Some,  who  have 
become  known  to  the  people  of  their  respective 
states  through  their  long  sojourn  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  are  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate 
and  there  have  still  greater  influence  in  the  matter 
of  regulating  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  So,  here  we 
have  the  products  of  the  one-eyed  political  system 
of  the  South,  men  who  have  never  been  subjected 
to  the  severe  tests  of  which  society  is  capable, 
placed  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  richest  nation 
on  the  earth.  Truly,  truly  has  the  nation  a  vast 
interest  in  the  methods  that  obtain  in  the  matter  of 
choosing  her  rulers.  For,  so  surely  as  the  rivers 
run  to  the  sea,  the  mediocres  that  are  allowed  to 
flourish  and  crowd  into  the  background  the  able 
minds  of  the  South  will  one  day  come  to  power  in 
the  nation  and  work  whatever  harm  is  to  be  expected 
of  weakness  exalted  to  the  place  rightly  due  to  the 
man  of  strength. 

But  let  us  take   even  a  closer  view 
Great  of  the  injury   wrought  and  the  dan- 

Tasks  gers    to    be     apprehended     because 

Needed.         of    the    present    political    conditions 
in  the  South.     The  political  isolation 


88  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

of  the  South,  its  constant  ignoring  at  the  ballot 
box  of  those  issues  that  are  dividing  the  people 
of  the  rest  of  the  country,  has  left  national 
affairs  to  the  care  of  other  sections.  This  means  that 
so  far  as  its  larger  political  life  is  concerned,  the 
South  has  abdicated  its  seat  on  the  throne  of  the 
government  and  has  become  like  unto  a  governed 
province.  It  is  no  light  thing  for  a  great  people  to  be 
shorn  of  the  privilege  of  dealing  with  the  larger 
affairs  of  its  existence.  Likening  the  Anglo-Saxon 
mind  unto  a  tree  whose  fruit  is  a  sadly  needed  food 
for  mankind,  let  the  South  deny  it  sufficient  soil  in 
which  to  sink  its  roots;  deny  it  skies  in  which  to  shoot 
its  branches,  and  unfold  its  buds;  deny  it  sunlight 
and  rain  upon  which  it  may  feed,  and  it  will  shrivel, 
become  barren,  become  the  hiss  and  by-word  of  the 
hungry  sons  of  men  who  come  looking  for  fruit  there- 
on, but  find  none. 

Behold  the  fate  of  the  Jews!  They 
Why  the  lost  their  independence,  had  no  great 
Jews  Erred,  affairs  of  state  with  which  to  deal,  and 
therefore  gave  themselves  up  to  sharp 
disputations  on  small  matters.  They  developed 
such  a  passion  for  things  of  small  moment  that  the 
coming  of  Christ,  the  great  seer,  found  them  utterly 
unprepared  to  receive  Him.  If  they  had  had  the  larger 
affairs  of  their  national  life  with  which  to  deal,  a  means 
for  the  expansion  of  the  mind  and  the  racial  soul; 
if  they  had  not  had  their  vision  narrowed  by  the 
poring  over  the  minutiae  of  the  ceremonial  law  and 
the  inconsequential  traditions  of  the  elders,  it  might 
have  been  that  they  would  have  escaped  the  odium 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  89 

attached  to  the  slaying  of  the  Christ,  an  odium  that 
has  clung  to  them  throughout  the  ages  as  a  veritable 
body  of  death. 

If  a  system  is  maintained  in  the 
Georgia  South  which  hems  in  and  slays  the 
Pays  strong  minds,  and  pushes  the  small 

Penalty.  ones  to  the  front,  the  people,  led  by 
small,  warped  minds  will  ultimately 
grow  narrow  of  soul,  blind  to  the  demands  of  the 
higher  life;  and  in  some  mad  moment  they  may  do 
that  which  will  stain  their  name  throughout  eternity. 
Look  at  imperial  Georgia!  Not  being  a  factor  in 
national  affairs,  she  failed  to  furnish  a  field  broad 
enough  for  the  mind  of  one  of  her  sons.  Lacking 
great  national  issues  that  would  interest  a  people 
inclined  to  vote  the  one  way  regardless  of  the  issues 
involved,  this  son  of  Georgia  decided  to  put  saddle 
and  bridle  upon  the  primitive  passion  of  racial  hate 
and  on  this  ride  to  glory.  His  campaign  against 
the  Negro  served  to  generate  the  atmospheric 
condition  that  caused  the  storm  clouds  of  racial 
feeling  to  burst  upon  the  proud  city  of  Atlanta  and 
wash  away  the  city's  good  name  which  thousands 
of  true  men  and  women  had  been  years  in  building. 

Another  baneful  effect  of  the  one- 
In  The  party  system  is  the  fact  that  under  its 
Hands  of  operation  only  a  small  proportion  of 
The  Few.  the  citizens,  even  among  the  whites 
takes  part  in  governmental  affairs. 
A  glance  at  the  returns  from  the  regular  elections  or 
from  the  "white  primaries"  where  matters  are  really 


90  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

settled  reveals  this  fact.  But  if  the  few  who  do  take 
part  in  elections  furnish  good  government  the 
question  might  be  asked  as  to  what  harm,  after  all, 
comes  of  the  non-participation  of  those  who  have 
evidently  surrendered  a  vital  interest  in  civic  affairs. 
Much  harm  in  every  way  as  will  presently  appear! 
Nature  has  not  placed  in  the  hands  of  man  a  chart  of 
the  earth,  nor  of  the  souls  of  his  fellowmen  that 
discloses  just  where  she  has  deposited  her  richest 
treasures  or  bestowed  her  choicest  mental  and 
spiritual  gifts  to  men.  Thus  it  is  that  man  has  been 
left  to  stumble  upon  silver,  gold,  diamonds,  radium, 
brilliance  of  intellect,  greatness  of  soul  in  most 
unexpected  quarters.  In  California,  at  whose 
borders  the  voracious,  land-swallowing  Pacific  just 
happened  to  halt  we  find  rich  deposits  of  gold,  while 
carelessly  rolled  in  the  mud  of  far  away  South  Africa 
we  get  our  most  beautiful  diamonds.  Out  of  little 
Greece  came  the  world-filling  mind  of  Aristotle;  out 
of  little  Corsica  came  the  mighty  Napoleon;  out  of 
the  solitude  of  Kentucky  woodlands,  came  the  human 
giant  Abraham  Lincoln;  out  of  the  manger  in  humble 
Bethlehem  came  the  immortal  Christ  of  God.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  we  know  not  where  nature  has 
planted  the  divine  fire  of  genius,  they  indeed  sin 
against  humanity  who  institute  systems  that  lull 
great  sections. of  the  human  family  to  sleep. 

In  trying  to  escape  evils  of  one  char- 
Sleeping  acter,  lo,  they  who  have  brought  to 
Hosts.  pass  the  condition  of  affairs  that 

has  put  the  millions  of  the  South  to 
sleep  and  left  matters  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  have 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  91 

rushed  into  the  crushing  embrace  of  another  great 
evil. 

Think  of  the  millions  of  whites  of  the  South  who 
never  go  to  the  polls;  look  upon  this  vast,  sleeping 
army  and  consider  how  much  of  genius,  what  trans- 
cendent powers  that  will  not  be  called  into  service 
nature  has  without  doubt  deposited  in  the  camps 
of  these  sleepers.  Grave  problems  are  bearing 
down  upon  the  modern  world  to  vex  its  heart  sorely. 
Who  knows  but  that  in  this  great  sleeping  army  of 
the  Southern  whites  there  may  be  nature's  grant  of 
power  to  some  soul  or  souls  which,  properly  harnessed 
could  move  the  modern  world  to  its  goal.  The  cry 
of  the  age  for  great  souls  would  undoubtedly  find 
somewhat  of  an  answer  from  the  ranks  of  these 
sleeping  hosts. 

"Perhaps  in  this  neglected  spot  is  laid 

Some  heart  once  pregnant  with  celestial  fire; 
Hands  that  the  rod  of  empire  might  have  swayed 
Or  waked  to  ecstasy  the  living  lyre,     *     *     * 
Some  mute  inglorious  Milton  here  may  rest, 
Some  Cromwell,  guiltless  of  his  country's  blood." 
It  should  be  the  one  great  dream  of  society  to 
furnish  conditions  for  the  flowering  of  those  powers 
that  cause  men  to  be  able  to  add  to  the  comfort,  the 
delight,  the  glory  of  the  human  family  for  all  time. 
Alas,  then,  for  those  conditions  in  the  South  that 
put  such  great  numbers  to  sleep. 

The  evil  sustained  is  not  confined  to 

Other  the    possible    loss    of    transcendent 

Lines  statesmanship.     When    the    man    of 

Affected.        public  affairs  goes  to  sleep  he  takes  to 

bed  with  him  the  poet,  the  sculptor, 


92  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  artist,  the  man  of  letters.  Observe  that 
contemporaneous  with  great  rulers  and  great  epochs, 
have  been  the  great  poets  of  the  world.  It  was 
statesmanship  manifested  in  the  lives  of  strong 
characters  that  quickened  the  mind  and  imagination 
of  Shakespeare  and  equipped  it  for  its  loftiest  flights. 
It  was  a  Victorian  jubilee,  the  commemoration  of  a 
great  reign,  that  fired  the  soul  of  Kipling  and  enabled 
it  to  sing  so  appealingly  of  the 

"God  of  our  fathers  known  of  old, 
Lord  of  our  far  flung  battle  line 

Beneath  whose  awful  hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine;" 

Let  the  mind  but  scan  the  world's  great  literature 
and  note  how  often  it  is  the  deed  of  the  man  dealing 
with  the  affairs  of  state  that  awakens  the  genius  of 
the  poet.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  merely  a  de- 
mocracy in  name,  a  theoretical  government  of  the 
people  by  the  people.  To  get  the  benefit  of  the 
quickening  power  of  a  democracy  the  people  must 
take  part  in  the  management  of  their  affairs. 

We  have  shown  elsewhere  how  that 
Arouse  the    absence    of    strenuous    political 

The  contests  works  against  the  summoning 

Sleepers.  to  the  front  of  the  reserve  powers  of 
the  mind ;  how  that  the  "white  pri- 
maries" being  wholly  within  the  one  household,  do 
not  furnish  room  for  the  development  of  men  to 
represent  fully  the  two  opposing  schools  of  thought, 
a  division  that  has  played  such  a  vital  part  in  push- 
ing forward  Anglo-Saxon  political  life;  how  that  the 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  93 

loss  of  the  national  power  as  an  asset  is  losing  to 
the  South  its  ability  to  multiply  the  influence  of  its 
choice  minds  and  to  enlarge  the  aspirations  of  its 
youths.  Now,  add  to  these  weakening  influences 
the  further  consideration,  that  so  much  of  its  civic 
genius  goes  to  waste  through  slumber  brought  on  as 
herein  pointed  out,  we  clearly  see  what  a  dreary 
prospect  is  held  out  to  the  South  moving  along 
present  lines.  The  people  of  Florida  have  awakened 
to  the  fact  that  immense  fortunes  are  lurking  in  the 
everglades,  only  awaiting  the  hand  that  will  draw  off 
the  waters.  The  hitherto  barren  lands  of  the 
western  wilderness  are  being  reclaimed,  called  into 
service,  and  are  now  blossoming  and  blooming  as 
the  rose.  Oh,  statesmen  of  America,  what  are 
swamps  and  deserts  compared  to  the  great  areas  of 
sleeping  and  unused  men? 

Holy  Writ  informs  us  that  "there  is  a 
Mistaken,  way  which  seemeth  right  unto  a  man 
but  the  end  thereof  are  the  ways  of 
death."  Over  and  over  again  in  the  history  of  the 
world  has  the  truth  of  this  assertion  been  demon- 
strated. The  ancient  Greeks,  a  people  of  strong 
mentality  cherished  the  belief  that  their  glory  rested 
upon  the  maintenance  of  the  autonomy  of  the 
several  Greek  states.  The  men  who  advocated 
this  idea  succeeded  in  thoroughly  fastening  it  upon 
the  minds  of  the  Greeks;  but  they  caused  the  fading 
of  the  glory  which  they  sought  to  sustain.  For,  the 
jealous  guarding  of  the  autonomy  of  the  several 
states  prevented  the  growth  of  a  strong  federation, 
which,  like  the  coming  together  of  the  early  English 


94  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

kingdoms,  would  have  secured  a  permanent  place 
among  the  great  nations  of  the  earth.  As  the 
devotion  of  the  Greeks  to  the  notion  of  autonomy 
proved  to  be  the  undoing  of  the  Greeks,  so  will  the 
reliance  of  the  white  South  upon  the  one-party, 
"white  primary"  system  continue  to  bring  to  pass  its 
decay  in  genuine  political  power. 

Son  of  the  white  South,  withdraw 
The  Course  that  frown  directed  toward  your  fellow 
To  Take.  who  would  think  his  own  political 
thought;  encourage  the  two-party 
system  regardless  of  your  political  affiliations;  if 
needs  be  lead  off  in  the  work  of  emancipating  your 
section  from  the  thralldom  of  the  one-party  idea. 
It  may  be  that  this  service  rendered  by  you,  this 
saving  of  your  section  from  political  death  may  be 
your  crown  of  eternal  glory.  Let  the  word  go  forth 
in  all  the  South  that  each  man  is  to  think  and  express 
his  own  political  thought,  that  divisions  of  opinion 
are  to  be  encouraged  rather  than  discountenanced, 
that  no  form  of  social  ostracism  is  to  be  visited  upon 
a  man  because  of  his  political  convictions,  that  politi- 
cal differences  are  not  to  be  carried  into  the  business 
life  of  the  community,  that  the  press  of  the  South  as 
a  patriotic  duty  is  henceforth  to  give  ample  attention 
to  the  sound  contentions  of  opposition  parties. 
Under  such  conditions  the  genius  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son and  of  the  other  great  giants  of  the  South  will  no 
longer  object  to  reincarnation  and  will  cheerfully 
come  back  to  dwell  in  the  bosoms  of  the  youths  of 
the  South  of  to-day,  thus  ensuring  the  grandeur  of 
the  times  in  which  we  live. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  95 

But  there  is  no  condition  of  human 
Those  affairs  but  that  can  be  turned  to  some 

Who  Are  one's  individual  profit.  When  the 
Satisfied.  angry  sea  marched  upon  and  slew 
thousands  of  Galveston's  citizens  its 
receding  waves  were  fast  followed  by  ghouls  who 
robbed  the  unburied  dead.  The  wind  from  which 
absolutely  no  one  derives  what  he  terms  good  must 
indeed  be  an  ill  one.  The  winter  cold  that  invades 
the  cabins  of  the  shivering  poor  and  carries  death, 
brings  with  it  bags  of  gold  for  the  dealers  in  fuel. 
This  thought,  clearly  borne  in  mind  should  prepare 
us  for  what  is  now  to  follow.  Upon  a  some- 
what recent  occasion,  which  for  the  moment 
attracted  national  attention,  one  of  the  bene- 
ficiaries of  the  one-party  system,  the  governor 
of  one  of  the  Southern  states,  let  fly  on  the  wings  of 
the  Associated  Press  his  arguments  against  the 
proposed  policy  of  President  Taft  looking  toward  the 
building  up  in  the  South  of  an  opposition  party 
that' would  keep  watch  on,  and  render  more  careful  the 
party  in  power,  to  the  end  that  the  South  might 
have  the  means  at  hand  for  expressing  its  real 
views  on  the  great  economic  questions  dividing  the 
nation,  and  for  forcing  the  selection  of  its  strongest 
sons  to  maintain  in  the  arena  of  thought  the  real 
views  of  their  respective  states. 

The  governor  to  whom  allusion  is 
Only  a  here  made  stated  that  he  was  opposed 

Scare  to  the  division  of  the  whites  of  the 

Crow.  South  for  fear  that  in  case  of  such 

division  the  Negroes  would  prove  to 
be  the  balance  of  power,  to  the  great  detriment  of 


96  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  South.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  freedom  of 
political  thought  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  the 
South  that  cannot  be  dispensed  with  except  at  a 
tremendous  cost,  it  behooves  it  to  walk  up  to  the  ob- 
jection here  raised  by  this  governor  to  decide  whether 
it  is  a  genuine  menace,  whose  existence  justifies  the 
continued  huddling  of  the  South  in  the  one  political 
party,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  scare  crow,  frightful 
in  appearance  but  absolutely  harmless  withal.  A 
glance  at  Negro  nature  and  the  circumstances 
surrounding  the  race  will  go  to  show  that  the  Negro 
vote  instead  of  being  a  menace  to  the  South  can 
become  one  of  its  most  helpful  assets.  Being  mainly 
of  the  industrial  class  whose  prosperity  is  bound  up 
intimately  with  the  prosperity  of  the  community, 
the  Negroes  would  be  sure  to  keep  a  keen  look 
out  and  could  be  relied  upon  to  discover  helpful 
policies  by  means  of  that  peculiar  sharpening  of  the 
vision  that  comes  in  the  school  of  stern  necessity. 
On  one  occasion  a  certain  Southern  city  was  in  the 
grasp  of  a  railway  monopoly  and  the  only  hope  of 
redemption  seemed  to  lie  in  having  the  city  to  vote 
substantial  aid  to  a  movement  that  sought  another 
outlet.  There  was  a  sufficiently  large  satisfied  class 
among  the  whites  to  prevent  the  securing  of  the 
required  three-fourth  vote  from  the  white  race  in 
favor  of  the  proposed  aid.  The  Negroes  were  ap- 
pealed to,  and  seeing  clearly  and  at  once  the  great 
benefit  to  the  industrial  class  of  the  proposed  move, 
they  supported  the  proposition  in  such  numbers  s& 
to  make  up  for  the  more  than  one-fourth  defection 
of  the  whites.  The  whole  city  now  rejoices  in  what 
the  Negro  vote  made  possible. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  97 

Not  only  does  the  Negro's  situation 
The  naturally  constitute  him  the  ally  of  the 

Negro's  policies  that  make  for  prosperous 
Choice.  conditions  but  it  also  makes  him  the 
chief  seeker  for  the  nobler  type  of  men 
to  hold  the  reins  of  government.  As  there  are  flies 
that  hunt  for  sores  in  which  to  deposit  their  eggs 
and  vultures  that  delight  in  carrion  which  they  may 
consume,  there  is  an  element  of  whites  that  will  not 
hesitate  to  take  advantage  of  the  position  of  the 
Negro  and  most  brutally  maltreat  him.  In  view  of 
this  fact  the  Negroes  follow  with  the  utmost  interest 
the  various  campaigns  waged  in  the  South  and 
ardently  hope  that  the  men  of  nobler  type  will  win 
the  day.  Moreover  the  Negro's  judgment  of  the 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  of  the  various  grades  of 
white  men  is  very  good.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
that  the  Negroes  have  their  wjiite  neighbors  clearly 
classified  and  any  one  proposing  to  have  dealings  with 
them  can  find  out  before  hajid  almost  to  the  utmost 
detail  just  what  to  expect.  The  terrible  shadow  of 
a  possible  annihilation  that  has  hung  like  a  pall  over 
the  Negro  race  has  caused  an  enforced  study  of  the 
white  man  that  makes  the  Negro  a  good 
judge  of  that  race.  This  claim  that  the  Negro 
is  an  excellent  judge  of  the  character  of  white 
men  need  not  jar  even  those  who  doubt  the  full 
development  of  the  race  at  the  present  time,  for  be 
it  remembered  that  children  are  often  better  judges 
of  the  character  of  some  people  than  the  older  ones 
are,  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  judgment 
of  children  so  often  determines  the  status  of  family 


98  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

friends.  A  certain  well  known  Southern  novelist  in 
one  of  his  stories  pictures  the  unerring  judgment  of 
an  aged  Negro  servant  who  could  read  the  character 
of  the  whites  so  well  that  he  became  the  accepted 
guide  of  the  family  in  doubtful  cases  and  could  seal 
the  doom  of  a  would-be  acquaintance  by  an  ominous 
shake  of  his  woolly  head. 

An  important  consideration  to  be 
Chasm  borne  in  mind  is  the  fact  that  the 

Can  be  Negro  race  is  not  by  nature  revengeful, 

Bridged.  thus  making  it  possible  to  close  the  gap 
between  the  white  and  colored  people 
far  more  easily  than  the  long  drawn  out  political  war 
between  the  two  races  would  seem  to  indicate.  We 
submit,  here  is  a  situation  that  offers  a  good  soil  for 
the  controlling  forces  of  the  South  to  cultivate  with 
the  full  assurance  that  every  natural  element  points 
to  a  harvest  of  beneficial  results.  Should  the  white 
people  of  the  South  see  fit  to  discountenance  the  talk 
about  the  repeal  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  and 
proceed  to  address  themselves  to  the  task  of  es- 
tablishing a  working  relationship  with  the  worthy 
element  of  Negroes  it  would  be  readily  seen  that  the 
majority  sense  of  the  Negroes  would  be  in  substantial 
accord  with  the  majority  sense  of  the  whites.  Where 
such  was  found  not  to  be  the  case  a  campaign  of  edu- 
cation would  certainly  bring  about  the  desired  results. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  religious  divisions  among 
the  whites  have  parallel  divisions  among  the  Negroes, 
and  in  all  probability  political  divisions  among  the 
whites  would  mean  corresponding  divisions  among 
the  Negroes,  so  that  the  efforts  of  the  whites  tc 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  99 

divide  and  strive  strenuously  to  arrive  at  the  best 
results  would  not  be  nullified  by  the  solid  massing 
and  blind  voting  of  the  Negroes. 

The  wise  handling  of  the  Negro  vote 
The  of  the  South  would  have  a  salutary 

Northern  effect  upon  the  national  interests  of 
Negro  and  the  South.  When  in  the  course  of 
the  South,  events  it  has  seemed  to  be  the  time  for 
the  opposition  party  in  the  North  to 
come  into  power,  when  there  has  been  a  decided 
tendency  on  the  part  of  the  majority  sense  of  the 
whites  of  the  North  to  make  a  shift  in  the  control  of 
-affairs,  fear  of  the  South  on  the  part  of  the  Negro 
voters  of  the  North  has  caused  them  to  be  slow  in 
taking  such  steps  as  would  give  the  South  national 
power.  A  careful  analysis  of  the  vote  in  many 
elections  will  disclose  the  fact  that  the  control  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  of  the  electoral 
college  has  several  times  been  lodged  in  the  hands 
that  favored  economic  policies  out  of  harmony  with 
the  South's  desires  through  the  Negro  vote  solidified 
by  fear  of  the  whites  of  the  South. 

The  Negroes  of  the  North  are  not 
Ground  on  the  whole  toilers  in  the  factories. 
For  an  At  present  they  are  largely  denied 

Alliance.  work  as  factory  hands.  They  do  not 
therefore  come  immediately  within 
that  group  of  laborers  that  are  supposed  to  be  pro- 
tected by  the  tariff  as  now  levied.  Their  economic 
interests,  whatever  they  are,  would  seem  to  be  in 
line  with  those  of  the  consumers  rather  than  those 


IOC  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

of  the  manufacturers.  It  is  generally  held  that 
the  predominant  interests  of  the  South  are  those 
of  the  consumer,  hence  the  consuming  Negro 
of  the  North  would  seem  to  be  the  natural  ally  of  the 
Southern  consumer.  But  an  unfriendly  attitude 
toward  the  Negro  voter  of  the  South  serves  to 
alienate  the  Negro  voter  of  the  North  and  causes  the 
South  to  pay  millions  of  tribute  annually  that  might 
be  retained  at  home.  It  seems  to  be  generally 
conceded  that  the  tariff  might  be  much  lower  than 
what  it  is  without  injury  to  the  country,  and  a 
friendly  spirit  between  the  whites  of  the  South  and 
the  Negroes  of  the  nation  would  perhaps  long  since 
have  given  enough  Congressmen  favorable  to  the 
consumer's  viewpoint  to  have  insured  the  desired 
result. 

Those  who  refuse  to  grapple  with 
The  the  question  of  trying  to  find  a  working 

Amend-  basis  with  the  worthy  Negro  in  political 
ment  matters,  who  prefer  to  continue  the 

Secure.  policy  of  slowly  murdering,  through 
the  one-party  system,  the  political 
genius  of  the  South  in  the  hope  that  time  will  bring 
about  the  abrogation  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to 
the  constitution,  are  hardly  wise.  President  Taft, 
representing  the  conservative  thought  of  the  nation, 
the  element  that  believes  more  in  evolution  and 
development  than  in  legislation  as  an  adjusting  force, 
says  that  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  never  will  be 
repealed  and  ought  not  to  be  repealed.  Those 
influences  in  the  North  which  have  uniformly 
pleaded  for  the  largest  sympathy  and  trust  for  the 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  101 

South,  which  strenuously  opposed  federal  inter- 
ference in  the  matter  of  enforcing  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  are  still  insistent  that  the  amendment 
abide  in  the  federal  constitution  as  the  ideal  toward 
which  the  nation  is  to  work.  These  particular 
forces  have  the  ascendency  in  the  nation  to-day. 
They  urge  that  the  task  of  squaring  the  life  of  the 
South  with  the  federal  constitution  be  left  to  the 
better  element  of  Southern  whites,  and  they  differ 
from  those  who  would  enforce  the  amendment  only 
.as  to  the  best  method  to  finally  attain  the  end  of 
having  that  amendment  represent  the  actual  conduct 
of  the  nation.  To  obtain  the  abrogation  of  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment  would  involve  the  absolute 
overturning  of  the  ideals  of  the  North  and  the  West, 
a  total  revulsion  against  democracy  in  general,  the 
flowering  in  those  sections  of  the  caste  spirit.  The 
arguments  needed  to  overturn  the  amendment 
would  have  to  be  fundamental  in  character  and 
would  carry  down  far  more  than  the  Negro.  No 
such  general  upsetting  of  ideals  may  be  expected. 
The  general  drift  is  all  the  other  way.  Nor  need  it 
be  expected  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  will  run  counter  to  the  ideals  of  the  nation  as 
reflected  in  the  constitution  and  in  the  enlightened 
public  sentiment  of  the  day.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
white  South  is  destined  to  a  long  dreary  wait  if  it  is  to 
sit  by  the  nation's  highway  waiting  for  its  ideals  to 
be  overturned. 


102  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

During  this  period  will  the  mediocre 
Roll  Call  have  so  fixed  his  spirit  upon  the  South 
of  the  Fu-  as  to  have  fully  snuffed  out  its  political 
ture.  genius,  leaving  it,  like  Greece,  the  at- 

tenuated shadow  of  its  former  self? 
Shall  the  South  inherit  all  and  bequeath  nothing? 
From  across  the  waters  there  have  come  out  of  the 
ancestral  home  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  Burke  and  Pitt, 
Fox  and  Disraeli,  and  hosts  of  others  to  inspire  the 
youth  of  to-day.  Out  of  the  loins  of  the  South  of  the 
past  sprang  Washington  and  Jefferson,  Marshall, 
Jackson  and  Calhoun,  fixed  stars  in  the  firmament  of 
American  statesmanship.  But  all  of  this  is  the 
output  of  the  blood  of  the  past.  Shall  the  South  of 
to-day  not  add  to  the  galaxy?  In  the  roll  call  of  the 
future,  when  our  decade  is  reached  and  the  names  of 
our  contributions  to  the  ranks  of  the  immortals  are 
called  for,  will  there  be  an  oppressive  silence  to  last 
throughout  the  eternal  ages?  Shall  we  have  no 
great  names  to  keep  our  section  and  our  era  alive  in 
history?  It  is  not  enough  for  the  whites  of  the  South 
simply  to  fill  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
Senate  at  Washington  with  "just  anybody,"  for  the 
togas  of  intellectual  giants  may  be  tightly  wrapped 
about  the  bodies  of  intellectual  pigmies. 

The  South  should  divide;  should  have  strenuous 
battlefields  which  will  summon  to  the  front  all  the 
latent  qualities  of  mind  and  soul.  The  Negroes  are 
no  necessary  menace.  Their  majority  sense  can  be 
appealed  to  in  such  a  way  as  to  yield  a  rich  harvest 
to  the  common  good.  The  cry  of  the  hour,  so  far  as 
the  higher  interests  of  the  South  are  concerned  is. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  103 

this,  is  simply  this: 

"Give  us  men  to  match  our  mountains, 
Give  us  men  to  match  our  plains, 
Men  with  empires  in  their  purpose 
And  new  eras  in  their  brains." 

Let  the  white  people  of  the  South  meet  half- way 
the  efforts  of  the  worthy  Negroes  to  influence  the 
political  thought  of  their  race  that  the  better  ele- 
ments of  the  two  races  may  be  found  working 
healthily  for  the  common  good.  Such  a  consum- 
mation is  indeed  immeasurably  better  than  the 
delivery  of  the  throat  of  the  political  genius  of  the 
South  into  the  hands  of  the  strangling  one-party 
system  which  according  to  the  South's  highest 
thought,  leaves  that  genius,  bleeding,  gasping,  dying 
upon  the  threshold  of  the  period  of  the  world's 
greatest  enlightenment. 


V.    THE  PRESERVATION  OF  THE 
TWO  RACES. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  PRESERVATION  OF  THE  TWO 
RACES. 


Their 

Methods 

Differ. 


The  various  races  of  mankind, 
whether  considered  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  units  that  compose  them 
or  as  aggregations,  present  marked  con- 
trasts in  their  respective  methods  of 
handling  the  grave  questions  that  from  time  to  time 
present  themselves  to  them  for  adjustment.  Often 
the  methods  of  one  race  are  directly  opposite  to 
those  of  another;  methods  that  are  in  high  repute 
in  one  race  are  utterly  despised  by  another.  When 
a  Frenchman  feels  that  his  honor  has  been  gravely 
reflected  upon  he  forthwith  challenges  the  author 
of  the  alleged  insult  to  a  duel,  with  swords  as  the 
weapons  to  be  used  in  the  fight,  whereas  a  "Green- 
lander,  who  is  aggrieved  by  another  has  his  remedy 
in  what  is  called  a  singing  combat.  He  composes 
a  satirical  poem  and  challenges  his  antagonist  to  a 
satirical  duel  in  face  of  the  tribe.  He  who  has  the 
last  word  wins  the  trial." 

(107) 


108  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  wide  gulf 
The  that  can  separate  the  respective  meth- 

Irish.  ods  employed  by  races  when  acting 

as  aggregations,  we  call  attention  to 
the  wide  difference  between  the  methods  employed 
by  the  Irish  and  those  employed  by  the  Japanese. 
An  Irishman  who  in  our  day  has  attained  unto  an 
international  reputation  as  a  writer  and  student  of 
Irish  affairs  once  said  in  the  columns  of  the  New 
York  Independent  that  the  Irish  people  would  never 
obtain  Home  Rule  for  their  country  by  means  of  a 
resort  to  arms,  giving  as  a  basis  for  his  assertion  the 
alleged  fact  that  the  Irish  people  were  so  lacking 
in  the  quality  of  secretiveness  that  their  leaders  did 
not  dare  to  adopt  the  plan  of  storing  away  arms  from 
year  to  year,  by  which  means  alone  they  could  hope 
to  secure  the  equipment  necessary  to  successfully 
cope  with  England  upon  the  field  of  battle.  He  as- 
serted that  the  secret  preparations  which  were  car- 
ried on  by  the  Boers  in  South  Africa,  which  finally 
enabled  that  small  body  of  people  to  surprise  the 
world  and  put  England  to  the  supreme  test  could 
not  have  been  carried  on  among  Irishmen  because 
of  the  impulsive,  out-spoken,  non-secretive  trait  in 
Irish  character.  As  a  result  of  the  alleged  presence 
of  this  trait  in  Irish  character,  the  Irish  leaders,  so 
says  our  authority,  have  settled  upon  agitation  as 
the  fixed  method  of  striving  to  advance  Ireland's 
interests;  and  thus  the  Irish  seek  to  keep  the  world 
stirred  by  their  continuous  outcry.  So  Ireland  is 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  109 

the  world's 

"*  *  *  infant    crying    in    the    night, 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry." 

But  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Irish  by  their 
chosen  method  have  been  able  to  push  forward  then- 
cause  very  materially. 

The  very  opposite  of  the  Irish  as 
The  Jap-  pictured  by  this  eminent  Irishman  are 
anese.  the  Japanese  who  are  a  secretive  people. 

Knowing  themselves  to  possess  this 
trait,  and  knowing  how  rrtuch  they  could  make  it 
count  in  their  favor,  the  Japanese  were  willing  to 
engage  in  that  life  and  death  struggle  with  the  Rus- 
sians. One  talkative,  indiscreet  Jap  located  in  the 
inner  circle  of  Japanese  affairs  could  have  affected 
very  easily  the  whole  course  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
war.  If  a  bare  hint  as  to  Japan's  initial  move 
had  but  drifted  out  of  those  inner  circles  the  Russians 
would  have  been  prepared  for  that  night  attack 
made  before  the  issuance  of  the  declaration  of  war, 
which  attack  carried  disaster  to  the  Russian  navy 
and  gave  to  Japan  immediate  mastery  of  the  seas 
bordering  the  seat  of  trouble.  Without  this  mastery 
Japan  would  have  been  woefully  handicapped  in 
the  matter  of  transporting  her  soldiers  across  the 
waters  to  the  scene  of  conflict. 

Not  only  was  secretiveness  a  factor  in  this  initial 
move,  but  it  played  its  part  throughout  the  entire 
struggle.  With  the  whole  world  asking  with  bated 
breath  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  Togo's  fleet, 
not  one  word  of  enlightenment  came  out  cf  the 


110  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

silent  East  until  the  news  flashed  the  world 
around  that  the  wily  Japanese  admiral  had 
waylaid  and  annihilated  the  last  great  branch 
of  the  Russian  navy.  Here  we  have  a  marked 
contrast,  the  Irish  discarding  secrecy  altogether, 
while  the  Japanese  relied  upon  it  as  the  pivot  around 
which  their1  policy  and  their  destiny  revolved. 

The  white  people  of  the  South  are 
The  Anglo-  well  pleased  with  their  Anglo-Saxon 
Saxon  Tern-  temperament,  the  mental  and  spiritual 
perament.  constitution  of  their  racial  soul.  They 
rejoice  in  the  fact  that  there  is 
written  in  the  blood  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  those 
elements  which  have  permitted  the  flowering  of  the 
great  civilization  of  that  race.  This  blood  has  proven 
susceptible  of  sustaining  a  civilization  based  upon 
love  of  country,  deep  reverence  for  woman,  love  of 
home,  hatred  of  tyranny,  freedom  of  the  individual, 
the  inviolability  of  the  plighted  word,  the  faculty 
for  dropping  all  internal  differences  and  presenting 
a  united  front  to  a  common  foe.  With  it,  blood  is 
thicker  than  water.  It  does  not  swap  horses  when 
crossing  a  stream.  Not  for  a  thousand  years  per- 
haps has  the  race  voted  an  administration  out  of 
power  during  a  war.  It  has  a  proven  capacity  for 
social  efficiency,  for  the  successful  conduct  of  great 
governmental  affairs  with  millions  of  free  men 
working  together  without  being  in  each  other's  way. 
This  blood  harbors  a  "restless  discontented,  burn- 
ing, striving  energy"  that  insures  the  onward  march 
of  its  civilization  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  of 
whatever  nature  thrust  athwart  its  pathway.  This 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  Ill 

blood  has  shown  the  capacity  to  draw  within  the 
range  of  its  consciousness  the  unborn  of  that  race, 
an  influence  steadying  and  deepening  its  statesman- 
ship, causing  it  to  seek  to  plan  for  things  that  can 
endure  as  long  as  earth  itself. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  perhaps  the 
Napoleon's  greatest  single  product  of  the  Celtic 
Tribute.  temperament  paid  a  glowing  tribute 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon  temperament. 
These  two  temperaments,  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the 
Celtic,  had  met  in  the  shock  of  battle,  had  grappled 
in  a  contest  that  tested  their  racial  souls  to  the  ut- 
termost. At  the  close  of  this  memorable  struggle 
the  greatest  out-put  of  the  rival  Celtic  temperament 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  spoke  thus  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
temperament:  "Had  I  been  in  1811  the  choice  of  the 
English  as  I  was  of  the  French,  I  might  have  lost 
the  battle  of  Waterloo  without  losing  a  vote  in  the 
legislature  or  a  soldier  from  my  ranks." 

If  we  may  go  to  the  realm  of  the 
Blending  lower  animals  we  will  find  there  a 
Bloods.  striking  illustration  of  the  change 
that  can  be  wrought  in  a  tempera- 
ment when  there  is  a  mingling  of  different  bloods. 
Let  us  take  the  case  of  the  bird  dog,  and  note  how 
he  was  produced.  The  hound  possesses  a  keen 
sense  of  smell  and  by  that  means  is  able  to  trace 
birds  for  a  huntsman.  But  the  hound  has  one  marked 
defect  as  a  hunter  of  birds;  he  cannot  refrain  from 
making  a  noise.  His  yelping  scatters  the  covey. 
How  to  utilize  the  hound's  sense  of  smell  and  yet  be 


112  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

rid  of  his  loud  yelping  was  the  problem  of  the  hunts- 
man. The  bull  dog  has  no  marked  capacity  for 
tracing  scents  but  he  can  be  silent  when  occasion 
demands  it.  The  hound  and  the  bull  dog  when 
mated  produced  the  bird  dog,  who  comes  upon  the 
scene  with  the  hounds  keen  sense  of  smell  and  the 
bull  dog's  capacity  for  silence.  Here  we  have  a 
striking  case  of  the  modifying  of  temperament 
through  the  union  of  bloods. 

Herbert  Spencer,  called  upon  to 
The  Hu-  give  his  opinion  on  the  question  of  the 
man  Blend,  intermarriage  on  a  large  scale  of  the 
people  of  Japan  with  foreigners  in 
their  midst,  upon  being  assured  that  what  he  said 
would  not  be  credited  to  him  until  after  his  death, 
stated  that  he  did  not  regard  such  marriages  as  being 
best  for  the  Japanese  as  they  would  tend  to  produce 
a  new  people  and  thus  destroy  that  valuable  asset 
of  the  statesmen,  racial  self-knowledge,  the  knowl- 
edge as  to  about  what  Japanese  character  could  be 
reasonably  expected  to  do  under  given  circumstances. 

Prof.  Giddings  in  his  analysis  of  the  American  popu- 
lation thinks  that  he  sees  traces  in  American  life 
and  character  of  the  bloods  of  the  various  peoples 
in  about  the  proportion  of  the  infusions  of  their 
several  bloods.  In  his  opinion  the  American  national 
character  can  be  analyzed  about  as  follows: 

"The  prevailing  English  33  1-3  per  cent;  the  pre- 
vailing Irish,  29  per  cent;  the  prevailing  Scotch, 
19  per  cent." 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  113 

The  Negroes  constitute  about  a  third 
Negro  and  of  the  population  of  the  South  and 
Anglo-  should  they  be  absorbed  into  the  white 

Saxon.  race  the  temperament  of  that  race  in 

the  South  would  become  approximate- 
ly 33  1-3  per  cent  Negro.  Now  this  is  what  the 
Southern  white  man  does  not  want.  So  well  pleased 
are  the  Southern  whites  with  their  Anglo-Saxon 
temperament  that  they  absolutely  refuse  to  harbor 
for  a  moment  any  thought  of  amending  their  tempera- 
ment by  the  drawing  in  of  Negro  blood.  With  eyes 
open  to  the  Negro's  past,  and  in  full  view  of  the  pres- 
ent plight  of  that  race  in  all  the  lands  of  earth  where 
it  is  found,  fearing  that  the  incorporation  of  Negro 
blood  into  their  veins  would  in  the  end  bring  unto 
them  the  woes  that  have  thus  far  seemed  to  follow 
Negro  blood  they  recoil  at  the  very  thought  of  a 
Negro  blood  infusion. 

Prizing  most  highly  their  full  membership  in  the 
great  white  race  of  the  world,  desiring  to  go  on 
looking  at  life  and  facing  its  problems  in  the  good 
old  Anglo-Saxon  way,  they  have  grimly  set  their 
souls  against  any  amendment  to  the  fundamental 
bent  of  their  natures,  and  are  determined  to  keep 
undimmed  their  white  complexion,  the  physical 
badge  of  membership  in  the  white  race.  And  the 
problem  of  keeping  Negro  blood  out  of  the  veins 
of  the  white  race  is  the  paramount  problem  with 
the  Southern  white  man,  and  to  it  all  other  ques- 
tions, whether  economic,  political  or  social  are  made 
to  yield. 


114  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  carry- 
Hard  Task  ing  out  the  desires  of  the  white  South 
Ahead.  are  great,  so  great  that  there  are  those 

who  hold  that  the  desire  is  unattainable. 
Says  Prof.  Lydston  of  the  Medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Illinois,  himself  thoroughly 
pro-Southern  and  anti-amalgamationist : '  'The  ques- 
tion of  the  cross-breeding  of  white  and  black  like 
Banquo's  ghost,  is  one  that  will  not  down.  Legis- 
late and  moralize  as  we  may,  we  can  never  erect 
barriers  that  will  confine  the  stream  of  black  blood 
to  its  own  channel.  So  long  as  human  passions  are 
what  they  are — and  we  can  never  hope  to  subvert 
them  to  American  ideas  of  altruism — the  black  and 
white  streams  will  intermingle.  It  is  not  possible 
that  a  distinctly  black  race,  comprising  millions,  can 
survive  in  the  midst  of  a  larger  community  of  whites. 
There  are  more  than  two  million  mixed  bloods  now; 
what  will  the  next  century  show?  It  is  not  possible 
for  a  stream  of  white  blood  to  flow  on,  year  in  and 
year  out,  side  by  side  with  a  stream  of  black  blood — 
or,  rather,  surrounding  the  latter  on  all  sides — with- 
out becoming  contaminated  by  it.  Struggle  as  we 
may,  a  gradual  blending  of  the  two  streams  is  inevi- 
table." 

Among  the  difficulties  in  the  way 
Some  may  be  cited  the  likeableness  of  the 

Difficul-  Negro.  The  claim  of  the  Southern 
ties.  white  man  that  he  is  the  Negro's  best 

friend  has  this  much  of  a  basis  of  fact, 
he  has  the  stronger  personal  liking  for  the  Negro, 
who  has  a  more  lovable  personality  than  his  facial 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  115 

expression  indicates.  This  liking  of  the  Southern 
white  man  for  the  Negro  is  what  doubles  the  size 
of  the  problem  before  him.  When  the  Negro  woman 
was  yet  fresh  from  uncivilized  Africa;  before  she  had 
become  an  adept  at  attiring  herself  after  the  fashion 
of  civilized  women;  when  her  speech  was  still  broken 
and  her  mind  a  blank,  even  then  her  humble  cabin 
became  the  home  of  offsprings  that  bespoke  a  marked 
interest  in  her  on  the  part  of  a  scion  of  the  white 
race.  A  goodly  part  of  this  attracting  force  operat- 
ing upon  the  white  man  is  perhaps  the  law  of  the 
attraction  of  opposites,  the  force  that  catches  hold 
of  all  discordant  elements  in  the  social  body  and 
patiently  moulds  them  into  a  homogeneous  mass. 
The  suction  forces  that  are  reaching  out  to  draw  all 
elements  into  the  great  American  melting  pot  which 
is  to  bring  forth  the  composite  American,  make  un- 
authorized forays  into  Negro  life  in  keeping  with 
their  tendency  to  blend  all  elements  into  a  common 
type. 

But  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way 
A  Grievous  of  maintaining  the  separateness  of  the 
Blunder.  blood  of  the  two  races  is  perhaps  a 
fundamental  error  on  the  part  of  the 
white  South  as  to  the  best  method  of  attaining  the 
end  sought.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  life 
that  men  so  often  accomplish  the  very  opposite  of 
that  at  which  they  are  aiming.  The  leaders  of  the 
Jews  lifted  Christ  to  the  cross  with  the  view  to  blot- 
ting his  name  from  the  memory  of  men.  They 
simply  made  it  impossible  for  the  human  family 
ever  to  forget  the  Christ.  South  Carolina  felt  that 


116  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

passing  an  ordinance  of  secession  would  make  slav- 
ery secure;  it  paved  the  way  for  immediate  emanci- 
pation. There  has  arisen  in  the  South  a  set  of  men 
who  have  proclaimed  themselves  the  special  guar- 
dians of  the  purity  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  and  they 
bestir  themselves  in  season  and  out  of  season  in 
search  of  ways  and  means  to  make  sure  that  Negro 
blood  does  not  flow  across  the  line  into  the  veins  of 
the  white  race.  Permit  us  to  demonstrate  how  that 
this  element  constitutes  the  greatest  of  all  the  forces 
working  for  the  mixing  of  the  blood  of  the  two  races. 
As  the  question  is  grave  and  should  be  treated  funda- 
mentally, bear  with  us,  though  for  a  time  it  may 
appear  that  we  have  left  the  subject.  We  shall  re- 
turn. 

As  we  contemplate  the  workings 
Nature's  of  nature,  one  of  the  most  striking 
Methods,  facts  that  everywhere  presents  itself 
for  our  consideration  is  the  diligence 
with  which  she  seeks  to  equip  her  creatures  so  that 
they  will  be  fully  able  to  meet  whatever  conditions 
of  life  are  to  confront  them.  Observe  how  the  straw- 
berry, the  grain  of  corn,  and  the  hickory  nut  differ 
among  themselves.  Nature,  seeing  that  the  career 
of  the  strawberry  was  to  come  to  a  close  while  the 
weather  is  yet  warm,  gave  to  it  no  covering.  The 
grain  of  corn,  having  a  longer  journey  to  pursue, 
being  very  likely  to  encounter  one  Jack  Frost  ere 
the  close  of  its  pilgrimage,  was  duly  provided  with  a 
shuck  for  a  shield.  After  the  fading  and  the  falling 
of  the  leaves,  after  the  summer  and  autumn  have 
bidden  the  earth  adieu  and  left  it  in  the  clasp  of 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  117 

winter,  cold  and  biting,  the  hickory  nut  is  still  to  be 
found  on  hand.  In  preparation  for  this,  nature 
gave  to  the  nut  its  thick  hard  covering  to  protect 
the  life  germ  within  from  the  adverse  weather  con- 
ditions through  which  it  was  destined  to  pass.  In 
whatever  direction  we  turn,  whether  it  be  to  look 
at  the  tail  of  the  beaver  equipped  to  handle  the  mud 
out  of  which  its  home  is  to  be  constructed,  or  to 
observe  the  bag  of  ink  given  to  the  scuttle  fish  to 
discharge  in  such  a  manner  as  to  muddy  the  waters 
and  thus  blind  its  pursuers  until  it  has  made  good  its 
escape — in  whatever  direction  we  turn,  we  stand  in 
awe  at  the  infinite  wisdom  and  consummate  skill 
with  which  nature  prepares  its  creatures  for  what- 
ever environments  they  are  to  encounter. 

The  late  Prof.  Thos.  H.  Huxley,  the 
The  Mak-  eminent  English  philosopher  and 
ing  of  Men  naturalist,  whose  scholarship  is  uni- 
Black.  versally  conceded,  has  advanced  and 

ably  championed  the  theory  that  it 
was  this  motherly  care  on  the  part  of  nature  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking,  that  induced  her  to  give  to 
the  Negro  race  its  wooly  hair  and  dark  complexion. 
It  is  Mr.  Huxley's  contention  that  the  human  family 
began  its  existence  white  throughout,  that  a  section 
of  this  white  race,  retreating  before  floods  and 
freshly-made  seas,  due  to  the  sinking  of  large  sec- 
tions of  the  earth,  kept  wandering  until  it  at  last 
landed  in  Africa.  Upon  the  entrance  of  the  whites 
into  Africa  in  these  prehistoric  times,  nature,  ac- 
cording to  Prof.  Huxley's  theory,  made  two  discover- 
ies of  vital  importance.  She  found  the  land  infested 


118  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

with  yellow  fever  germs  that  bade  fair  to  exter- 
minate this  white  race  now  resident  in  Africa.  She 
also  discovered  that  wooly  hair  and  a  black  complex- 
ion rendered  persons  possessing  them  practically 
immune  from  the  ravages  of  the  yellow  fever  germs; 
so  with  all  the  marvelous  skill  at  her  command  she 
set  about  the  task  of  ridding  that  portion  of  the  hu- 
man family  residing  in  the  germ-infested  land  of 
smooth  hair  and  the  light  complexion,  and  proceeded 
to  equip  it  with  the  characteristics  necessary  for  its 
salvation. 

The  scientists  tell  us  that  whenever 
Natural  nature  has  changes  that  she  desires  to 
Selection,  make,  she  watches  for  any  slight  tend- 
encies in  the  desired  direction;  that 
she  so  shapes  the  mating  instincts  of  her  creatures 
that  the  aforementioned  tendencies  are  pre- 
served and  augmented  from  generation  to  generation. 
For  example,  if  there  appeared  in  this  African  white 
race  a  girl  with  slight  tendencies  toward  wooliness 
of  hair  and  swarthiness  of  complexion,  and  a  boy 
with  like  characteristics,  nature  would  incline  the 
two  to  love  each  other,  nature's  object  being  to  in- 
crease this  wooliness  and  swarthiness  in  the  next 
generation.  By  everywhere  bending  the  instinct 
of  marrying  in  this  direction,  nature  would  be  able 
year  by  year  to  increase  the  wooliness  of  hair  and 
swarthiness  of  complexion,  until  she  had  finally 
developed  a  black  race  fully  able  to  bid  defiance  to 
yellow  fever  germs.  Here  we  have  the  theory  of 
one  of  the  most  emient  of  English  scientists  setting 
forth  how  that  in  all  probability,  nature  took  charge 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  119 

of  a  white  race  and  gradually  converted  it  into  a 
black  one,  without  having  a  single  black  face  with 
which  to  begin. 

Just  here  a  decidedly  interesting 
An  Impor-  question  for  Southern  statesmanship 
tant  Ques-  arises,  to  wit:  Can,  and  will  this  same 
tion.  nature  which  took  a  white  race,  and 

through  the  process  of  years,  converted 
it  into  one  wholly  black,  now  take  this  black  race  and 
change  it  back  to  white? 

Let  us  take  up  first  the  question  as  to  whether 
nature  can  retrace  her  steps.  A  study  of  what  has 
transpired,  and  what  exists  to-day  in  many  quarters 
of  the  animal  kingdom  proclaims  the  fact  that 
nature  has  the  power  not  only  to  make  but  to  un- 
make as  well.  Nature  gave  to  a  certain  fish  as  splen- 
did a  set  of  eyes  as  she  had  in  stock.  This  fish  elect- 
ed to  wander  into  Kentucky's  Mammoth  Cave,  and 
made  this  home,  and  the  home  of  his  seed  after  him. 
Perceiving  that  there  was  no  need  of  eyes  in  this 
dark  cave  nature  withdrew  her  grant  of  eyes,  so  that 
now  the  fishes  of  Mammoth  Cave  are  born  totally 
blind.  Scientists  tell  us  that  within  the  body  of  the 
whale  there  are  relics  of  what  were  formerly  hip 
bones.  In  the  long,  long  ago,  whales,  they  tell  us, 
walked  on  the  land.  Gradually  they  took  to  the 
sea,  and  as  gradually  nature  withdrew  her  grant 
of  legs  and  substituted  therefor  a  powerful  tail 
with  which  the  whale  might  steer  and  defend  itself 
in  the  sea.  These  instances  are  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  ability  of  nature  to  retrace  her  steps  should  she 
so  desire. 


120  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

The  next  question  to  be  answered 
Will  is,  as  to  whether  nature  will  exercise 

She?  this  power  to  whiten  the  Negro  race. 

Under  normal  conditions  nature  would 
not  so  do.  She  has  no  time  to  waste.  All  her  moods 
are  serious.  Normally  she  desires  for  species  to 
reproduce  their  kind,  and  she  steps  in  to  cause  a  new 
type  to  appear  and  the  old  type  to  disappear  only 
when  environments  imperatively  demand  such  a 
course.  But  nature  forgets  none  of  her  creatures,  not 
even  the  slimy  snail.  To-day  she  looks  down  upon 
her  dark  creatures  in  America  to  learn  what  is  to  be 
their  lot.  If  there  is  to  be  no  future  for  the  black 
face;  if  life  is  to  be  one  long  drawn  out  groaning  of 
the  spirit;  if  the  black  man  as  he  toils  and  struggles 
upward  is  to  feel  for  every  step  he  takes,  the  leathern 
scourge  upon  his  back,  and  to  hear  the  hiss  of  hate 
in  his  ear;  if,  to  the  end  of  time,  he  is  to  hew  the  wood, 
draw  the  water,  and  be  denied  the  larger  joys  of  life ; 
if  at  no  time  the  sun  of  hope  is  to  dawn  and  chase 
out  of  his  face  the  thousand  years  of  gloom  that  are 
written  there,  then  nature  who  intervened  to  stay 
the  ravages  of  yellow  fever  germs,  may  feel  inclined 
to  step  in  and  recast  the  race  to  meet  the  conditions 
encountered  in  a  color-hating  land. 

Let  us  now  observe  the  tactics  which 
Nature  Re-  nature  could  employ  to  cause  the  Negro 
tracing  race  in  America  to  be  finally  lifted 
Her  Steps,  from  the  cauldron  of  color  prejudice. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  it  is  Mr.  Hux- 
ley's contention  that  nature,  beginning  in  Africa 
without  a  single  black  face  seized  upon  every  slight 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  121 

advance  toward  the  black  complexion,  preserved 
it  and  transmitted  it  in  augmented  form,  on  and 
on  until  a  thoroughly  black  race  was  developed. 
But  in  the  work  of  retracing  her  steps  if  she  so 
desires,  nature  has  a  far  better  start.  As  a  result 
of  conditions  existing  in  the  days  of  slavery 
numerous  persons  are  to  be-  found  who  have  light 
complexions  but  are  classed  as  Negroes.  Nature 
ever  keeps  under  her  jurisdiction  the  marital  in- 
stinct which  fact  has  begotten  the  aphorism, 
"There  is  no  accounting  for  tastes."  Taking  charge 
of  the  marrying  within  the  Negro  race,  nature  can 
see  to  it  that  the  dark  man  and  the  dark  woman 
take  no  marked  interest  in  each  other.  It  can 
incline  the  dark  man  to  admire  the  woman  of  light 
complexion,  and  can  prepare  that  woman  to  return 
the  affections  of  the  dark  man.  The  same  can  be 
done  for  the  dark  woman  and  the  man  of  light 
complexion.  By  regulating  marriages  on  this  wise, 
nature  can  see  to  it  that  the  thoroughly  dark 
complexion  is  eliminated.  When  a  child  is  born 
in  a  family  where  there  is  one  parent  dark,  nature 
can  see  to  it  that  its  tastes  run  in  the  direction  of  the 
lighter  complexion,  and  that  child's  marriage  can 
be  so  shaped  as  to  continue  the  race  toward  the 
lighter  complexion  instead  of  returning  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  darker  parent. 

The  process  here  outlined  can  go  on  until  no 
one  will  be  able  to  tell  just  where  the  Negro  race 
ends  and  the  white  race  begins.  The  next  step 
would  be  the  blending  of  the  two  races  and  the 
blood  of  the  millions  of  Negroes  of  the  South 


122  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

would  at  last  find  itself  flowing  in  the  veins  of   the 
white  race! 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  the  process 
Nature  Al-  of  making  the  Negro  race  lighter  by 
ready  at  the  character  of  the  marriages  within 
Work.  the  race  has  been  going  on  until  hun- 

dreds of  thousands  of  Negroes  are 
now  to  be  found  who  can  pass  over  into  the  white 
race  by  the  simple  expedient  of  changing  their  resi- 
dence. Here  then  is  an  army  of  persons  whose  ranks 
are  being  recruited  every  day  ready  for  the  word  of 
command  to  disappear  into  the  white  race  carry- 
ing their  Negro  blood  with  them. 

Left  to  itself  the  Negro  race  is  amply 
To  Stay  able  to  hold  this  element  within  its 
or  Leave.  own  ranks  by  the  sheer  charm  of  life 
within  the  race.  For,  the  race  has 
beauty  in  great  variety,  has  the  gift  of  song 
and  oratory,  is  fun-loving  and  convivial,  possess- 
ing the  social  instincts  to  a  marked  degree.  Thus 
it  can  furnish  a  full  measure  of  the  joys  of 
earth  to  all  who  will  abide  within  its  borders.  As 
Mr.  Ray  Stannard  Baker  points  out,  the  Negroes, 
situated  even  as  they  now  are,  extract  more  of 
joy  from  life  than  do  the  whites  of  the  South. 
For  the  element  of  the  light  complexion,  then,  to 
develop  a  controlling  desire  to  leave  the  Negro  race 
there  must  come  a  powerful  pressure  from  the  out- 
side. Now  that  is  just  what  a  certain  element  in 
the  South,  represented  by  such  men  as  Messrs.  Till- 
man,  Dixon,  Vardaman,  Smith,  Watson  and  Heflin 
is  doing,  supplying  this  pressure.  It  is  said  that 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  123 

rats  will  desert  a  sinking  ship.  If  the  Negro  ship  is 
to  be  loaded  with  ignorance,  with  political  serfdom, 
with  exclusion  from  America's  higher  life,  and,  thus 
loaded,  is  to  be  made  to  sink  in  the  waters  of  despair, 
then  will  it  indeed  be  hard  to  keep  these  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Negroes  of  the  light  complexion 
aboard  the  sinking  vessel.  The  dispersion  of  this 
blood  throughout  the  white  race  will  not  be  sudden, 
but  long  continued  and  of  ever  increasing  volume. 
The  recent  wave  of  racial  feeling  has  certainly  started 
a  slight  movement  in  that  direction.  We  have 
personal  knowledge  of  several  persons  of  the  light 
complexion  who  were  living  contented  lives  in  the 
Negro  race  until  this  powerful  wave  came  and  bore 
them  into  the  white  race.  Two  of  these  individuals 
hail  from  Mr.  Vardaman's  own  state,  Mississippi, 
but  have  now  gone  North.  We  know  of  still  others 
who  are  studying  the  signs  of  the  times,  who  are 
ready  to  leave  the  race  when  out  of  the  western  sky 
there  creeps  the  dark  shadow  that  brings  the  sad 
message  that  the  sun  of  for  hope  the  Negro  race  has  set 
forever  and  a  day.  On  one  occasion  we  asked  a  dark 
young  man  from  Mississippi  as  to  why  dark  young 
men  seemed  to  choose  the  young  women  of  light 
complexion  for  wives.  He  said :  "Mr.  Vardaman  tells 
us  that  as  Negroes  we  shall  never  have  the  full  privi- 
leges of  citizenship  in  this  country  and  we  think  that 
the  sooner  we  get  away  from  the  black  complexion 
the  better.  I  guess  I  too  shall  marry  a  girl  with  a 
light  complexion."  It  is  true  that  one  swallow  does 
not  make  a  summer  but  it  is  also  true  that  straws 
show  which  way  the  wind  is  blowing.  Men  do  not 
follow  a  corpse  beyond  a  graveyard .  A  disfranchised , 


124  WISDOM'S  CALL.  " 

proscribed,  brow-beaten,  murdered  element,  an 
element  from  which  lynching  material  may  be 
drawn  with  impunity  will  seek  to  escape  from  the 
fiery  furnace  through  being  lost  in  the  ranks  of  those 
of  the  more  favored  hue,  while  a  kindly  treated 
Negro  element,  invested  with  the  full  privileges  of 
men  and  women  will  tend  to  abide  as  it  is,  indefinitely. 

When  we  stop  to  consider  the  fact  that 
Nemesis?  a  possible  infusion  of  Negro  blood  is 
the  one  great  dread  of  the  white  South, 
being  regarded  by  it  as  a  most  direful  calamity, 
does  it  not  cause  one  to  reflect  upon  the  distance 
the  human  race  is  from  perfect  wisdom,  when  he 
sees  the  white  South  singling  out  for  special  honor, 
for  good  salaries,  for  marked  social  attentions  the 
very  men,  who,  more  than  all  other  influences  com- 
bined are  driving  the  maternal  instinct  and  the  forces 
of  evolution  to  the  side  of  lightening  the  Negro's 
complexion,  and  are  furnishing  the  nearly  white 
Negro  with  reasons  for  debating  as  to  whether  it  is 
wise  to  continue  in  the  Negro  race?  The  white  South 
can  well  bear  in  mind  that  this  terrible  racial  jangle, 
racking  to  the  nerves  and  annoying  to  the  very 
marrow  of  the  bones  may  one  day  grow  to  sound 
to  the  Negroes  of  the  light  complexion  as  an  insistent, 
though  unconscious  message  from  the  white  race 
saying: 

"Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

In  the  event  that  the  violent  Southerner,  who 
would  keep  the  Negro  black  by  slamming  the  door 
of  hope  in  his  face  and  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon  his 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  125 

head,  wakes  up  to  find  that  these  very  fires  have  in 
some  way  finally  removed  the  kinks  from  that  wooly 
hair  and  burned  up  the  cells  out  of  which  the  color- 
ing fluids  came  to  darken  the  Negro's  face,  let  him 
not  be  amazed  at  what  he  has  unwittingly  done,  for 
it  will  not  be  by  any  means  the  first  t*me  in  history 
that  men  have  accomplished  the  opposite  of  what 
they  planned.  If  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Negroes  who  are  nearly  white,  and  the  millions  to  be 
made  like  unto  them  that  are  to  come  trooping  after, 
ever  decide  to  take  up  their  home  in  the  white  race 
and,  in  the  years  to  come  modify  or  add  to  the  funda- 
mental bent  of  the  white  race  in  the  South,  may 
the  white  South  summon  from  their  tombs,  Messrs. 
Tillman,  Vardaman  and  company  and  say  unto  them, 
"Behold  the  fruits  of  your  labors." 

Will  the  white  South  see  all  this,  or  has  Nemesis 
blinded  her  to  the  true  philosophy  of  the  situation 
so  that  she  (Nemesis,)  charged  with  the  execution 
of  the  law  of  retribution  may,  by  a  flank  movement, 
and  through  the  back  door  of  the  white  race,  bear 
into  that  race  as  much  Negro  blood  as  the  white 
race  has  sent  into  the  Negro  race? 

The  writer  would  not  have  the  reader 
A  Personal  feel,  because  of  anything  herein  said, 
Word.  that  we  are  an  advocate  of  the  disap- 

pearance of  the  dark  complexion,  for 
such  is  not  the  case.  We  have  sought  to  demon- 
strate not  what  we  desired  to  take  place,  but  what 
nature  herself  could  do  and  might  be  influenced  to  do, 
regardless  of  the  wishes  of  those  who  favor  the  reten- 
tion of  the  dark  complexion .  We  believe  in  the  Negro, 


126  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

in  the  majesty  of  his  patient  soul,  in  the  brilliancy  of 
the  future  that  awaits  him  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the 
human  family.  We  believe  that  he  is  but  waiting 
his  call  to  the  center  of  the  stage  whence  he  will  pour 
forth  in  inimitable  sweetness  and  surpassing  grand- 
eur his  special  message  from  the  many-sided  heart  of 
the  Great  Creator.  We  especially  protest  against 
the  disappearance  of  the  American  Negro  as  a  Negro. 
Who  knows  but  that  he  is  being  evolved  as  the  special 
guide  of  the  host  of  the  dark  millions  across  the 
waters?  With  the  loss  of  color  might  go  the  loss  of 
special  feeling  of  kinship.  Feeling  we  cannot  view 
with  equanimity  the  forces  at  work  tending  to 
whiten  the  race. 

We  live  in  the  hope  that  the  entire 
The  Wiser  white  population  of  the  South  will  see 
Way.  that  a  full  and  hearty  recognition  of 

worthy  aspirations  on  the  part  ot  the 
Negro  is  most  in  harmony  with  its  cherished  ideals. 
We  live  in  the  hope  that  the  spiritual  war  between 
the  two  races  in  the  South  will  cease,  and  that  the 
white  people  of  the  South  will  take  the  lead  in  asking 
the  nation  that  the  Negro  be  given  a  man's  chance 
as  a  Negro.  We  live  in  the  hope  that  the  future 
will  reveal  the  white  man  and  the  black  man  jointly 
working  for  the  glory  of  the  South,  for  the  honor  of 
each,  for  the  good  of  the  nation,  for  the  uplift  of  the 
submerged  millions  of  the  colored  world,  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  entire  human  family,  for  the  glory 
of  the  one  God  that  made  us  all. 


VI.    SOUTHERN  STATESMANSHIP 
AND  THE  NEGRO  WOMAN. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SOUTHERN  STATESMANSHIP  AND  THE 
NEGRO  WOMAN. 


Colored 
Woman 
a  Factor. 


In  the  work  of  maintaining  the 
separateness  of  the  two  races  the  white 
people  cannot  ignore  the  Negro  woman 
as  a  factor  in  the  situation  and  still 
hope  to  succeed  in  attaining  the  goal  of 
their  ambition.  In  view  of  the  clearly  established 
fact  that  an  abundance  of  white  men  are  to  be 
found  who  have  no  aversion  to  entering  the  Negro 
race  and  establishing  what  practically  amounts  to 
marital  relationship,  it  is  very  evident  that  if  the 
colored  woman  should  lose  her  self-respect,  should 
fall  a  victim  in  any  general  way,  to  the  pressure  di- 
rected against  her  there  would  come  into  being  a 
vast  army  of  mulattoes,  who  by  judicious  inter- 
marrying could  so  whiten  the  Negro  race  that 
their  descendants  could  easily  pass  for  white.  If 
the  colored  woman  but  so  decreed  the  dark  com- 
plexion would  vanish  from  American  life,  and  with 
its  going,  the  border  line  between  the  two  races 
would  no  longer  be  visible,  and  the  long  fought 
and  much  dreaded  amalgamation  would  be  an 

129 


130  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

accomplished  fact.  In  the  work,  therefore,  of 
keeping  out  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  the  blood  of 
the  Negro  it  must  be  kept  clearly  in  mind  that 
the  colored  woman  can  be  either  the  most  valuable 
ally  or  the  most  deadly  foe  of  the  dreams  of  the 
white  South. 

In  view  of  the  importance  of  the 
Factor  colored  woman  as  a  factor  in  the  situa- 

Unpro-  tion  it  is  pertinent  to  inquire  into  her 
tected .  status  under  the  existing  order  of  things 

in  the  South.  The  colored  women  of 
purest  life  report  that  the  atmosphere  in  which  they 
and  their  daughters  are  forced  to  move  is  anything 
but  wholesome;  that,  however  correct  their  bearing 
white  men  do  not  hesitate  to  smite  their  ears  with 
improper  suggestions;  that  the  world  has  no  concep- 
tion of  the  boldness  of  the  address  of  the  white  men, 
who  knowing  that  the  social  life  of  the  two  races  is 
divided  into  two  currents  which  never  mingle,  have 
no  fear  of  the  sting' of  the  social  power.  It  is  indeed 
appalling  to  listen  to  the  accounts  of  experiences 
related  by  many  of  the  truest  and  best  of  the  race. 
An  incident  that  was  reported  to  the  writer  by  his 
brother  will,  perhaps,  throw  some  light  upon  the 
charge  brought  by  colored  women  of  character. 
This  brother,  at  the  time  in  question  a  lad  working 
in  a  clothing  store,  was  standing  near  two  of  the 
male  white  clerks  one  day  while  one  of  the  clerks  was 
advising  the  other  to  abandon  his  associations  with 
white  women,  and  as  a  matter  of  economy,  to  ally 
himself  with  a  colored  woman  until  such  a  time  as  he 
might  see  fit  to  marry.  The  young  man  who  was 
thus  advised  replied  that  he  did  not  know  how  to 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  131 

proceed,  could  not  tell  just  which  colored  woman  to 
approach. 

"Stand  in  front  of  the  store  and  ask  just  any  of 
them  that  pass  until  you  come  to  the  right  one,"  was 
the  response.  The  young  man  followed  the  advice. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  the  charge  of  the  colored 
women  is  not  by  any  means  against  the  whole 
body  of  Southern  white  men.  On  the  contrary 
they  are  careful  to  state  that  there  are  white  men 
whose  conduct  toward  them  is  ideal,  who  treat  them 
as  considerately  as  any  woman  of  honor  could  be 
treated.  But  the  complaint  is  that  such  white  men 
as  have  evil  in  their  hearts  have  no  regard  whatever 
for  the  sensibilities  of  the  purest  colored  woman 
and  make  her  life  miserable  by  their  frequent,  wanton 
insults. 

An  incident  which  throws  an  inter- 
An  Illus-  esting  sidelight  upon  the  status  of  the 
t  ration,  colored  woman  in  some  sections  of  the 
South  was  reported  to  the  writer  a  few 
days  since  by  a  thoroughly  reliable  person  who  was 
in  a  position  to  be  sure  of  his  facts.  A  colored  woman 
had  purchased  some  goods  from  a  white  man  on  the 
installment  plan.  Having  gotten  somewhat  behind 
in  her  payments,  the  white  collector  ordered  her  to 
have  his  money  for  him  on  a  given  day.  This  the 
woman  failed  to  do  and  the  collector  thereupon 
began  to  beat  her.  She  ran  out  of  her  house  into 
the  store  of  a  colored  man,  begging  the  storekeeper 
for  protection.  This  was  given  her,  and  the  white 
man  was  pushed  out  of  doors.  A  telephone  call  was 
sent  by  the  colored  man  for  the  patrol  wagon.  When 
the  policeman  arrived  he  at  once  put  the  colored 


132  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

woman  under  arrest,  and  while  he  was  leading  her 
to  the  patrol  wagon  the  collector  began  to  assault 
her  again  by  kicking  her,  whereupon  the  colored 
man  once  more  intervened.  The  colored  woman 
was  put  into  the  patrol  wagon  and  carried  to  the  jail. 
The  assaulting  collector  rode  with  the  driver  for  a 
short  distance,  then  got  down  and  went  about  his 
business.  It  is  very  apparent  to  the  dullest  mind 
that  a  man  who  would  feel  free  to  thus  beat  a  colored 
woman  would  also  feel  free,  if  so  inclined,  to  address 
a  colored  woman  in  any  manner  that  might  suit 
his  fancy. 

A  factor  inevitably  tending  toward 
The  Nat-  the  whitening  of  the  Negro  race, 
ural  Sen-  and  therefore  toward  the  ultimate 
tinel.  blending  of  the  two  races,  is  the 

denying  to  the  colored  woman  the  pro- 
tection of  the  colored  man.  As  the  white  man  of 
the  South  is  the  sentinel  that  stands  guard  over  the 
white  woman  and  resents  anything  that  savors  of 
social  attention  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  man,  so 
the  Negro  man  is  the  natural  sentinel  that  would 
stand  guard  over  the  Negro  woman. 

In  the  matter  of  dealing  with  im- 
Fear  to  proper  advances  of  the  libertines  among 
Summon  the  whites,  the  colored  woman  feels 
Aid.  absolutely  unprotected.  If  when  im- 

properly approached,  she  sees  fit  to 
call  a  colored  man  to  resent  the  insult  for  her,  one 
of  two  results  usually  follows.  Either  the  white 
man  kills  the  Negro,  and  is  at  once  set  free,  or  the 
Negro  kills  or  injures  the  white  man  and  is  forth- 
with lynched  or  sent  to  prison.  Colored  women 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  133 

know  the  danger  to  which  colored  men  are  exposed 
and  as  a  consequence  they  hesitate  about  calling  in 
their  male  relatives  even  where  such  seem  sadly 
needed.  A  mother  may  see  clearly  the  designs  on 
her  daughter  by  a  white  man,  and  the  child  might 
be  saved  if  there  were  some  one  to  warn  the  would- 
be-betrayer  to  desist.  But  as  before  stated  the 
mother  hesitates  to  summon  her  husband  or  her  son 
to  what  she  regards  as  certain  death  or  imprison- 
ment if  he  but  speaks  for  the  child  in  peril.  What 
is  here  asserted  is  no  mere  theory  or  idle  supposition, 
as  the  graves  of  many  colored  men  in  the  South  elo- 
quently testify. 

By  way  of  illustration  we  shall  cite 
Cases.  just   a   few   typical   cases.    A    white 

man  having  improperly  accosted  a  col- 
ored girl,,  she  reported  his  conduct  to  her  brother. 
The  young  man  armed  himself,  went  to  the  white 
man's  home,  called  him  out  and  told  him  to  treat 
his  sister  with  respect.  This  was  at  night.  The 
next  morning  the  white  man,  armed  with  a  shot 
gun,  went  to  the  place  where  the  colored  man  was 
working,  called  him  out,  and  shot  him  down,  killing 
him  instantly.  The  slayer  of  this  Negro  who  only 
sought  to  shield  his  sister  was  no  more  punished 
than  if  he  had  slain  a  mad  dog.  The  newspaper  ac- 
count of  the  killing  rather  commended  him  for  his 
course.  A  white  man  who  had  designs  on  a  colored 
girl  living  on  his  farm  with  her  widowed  mother  and 
brother,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  girl's  brother 
was  in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose, 
and  he  thereupon  ordered  the  lad  to  leave.  The 
boy,  desiring  to  be  near  his  sister  for  her  protection, 


134  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

refused  to  go.  The  two  met  and  fought,  the  colored 
boy  severely  injuring  the  white  man.  The  boy  was 
conveyed  to  jail  and  steps  were  taken  to  have  him 
lynched.  The  sheriff,  talking  to  a  colored  man 
with  a  very  light  complexion  thinking  that  he  was 
white,  told  of  the  projected  lynching.  Led  by  this 
man  a  delegation  of  colored  men  interceded  with  the 
Governor  to  save  the  lad's  life,  but  all  to  no  avail. 
The  mob  came  on  schedule  time  as  forecasted  by 
the  sheriff  and  the  lad  was  duly  lynched.  Yes,  in 
many  an  humble  cemetery  in  the  South  there  lies 
the  body  of  a  Negro,  his  neck  broken,  a  hundred 
bullets  having  dropped  from  his  frame  to  the  coffin 
floor  as  the  flesh  decayed.  If  there  be  a  recording 
angel  whose  duty  it  is  to  write  epitaphs  for  heroic 
souls  whose  deeds  are  unsung  by  the  poets  of  earth, 
over  these  graves  he  shall  write:  "His  crime  was 
that,  in  the  heart  of  the  modern  home  of  chivalry, 
the  South,  he  was  lynched  and  mutilated  because  he 
sought  as  best  he  knew  how  to  defend  himself  from 
a  murderous  onslaught  from  one  whom  he  had  asked 
to  desist  from  sinister  designs  on  the  family  honor." 
Elsewhere  in  these  pages  we  discuss  the  danger  of 
an  unprotected  spot,  showing  how  that  one  weak 
spot,  serving  as  a  gateway  could  and  would  admit 
evils,  which  once  in,  would  disport  themselves 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  social 
body.  It  has  been  our  observation  as  we  have 
traveled  through  the  South  that  wherever  the  Negro 
has  lost  all  connection  with  the  ballot  and  therefore 
his  connection  and  influence  with  the  governing 
power,  white  men  all  the  more  freely  take  up  their 


\YISDOM'S  CAM..  135 

abode  with  Negro  women.  Those,  therefore,  who 
cry  out  for  the  weakening  of  the  Negro  man  in  the 
body  politic  are  preparing  the  one  needed  point  of 
weakness  where  the  white  man  may  enter  the  Negro 
race,  and  through  his  offsprings  prepare  for  the 
journey  of  Negro  blood  into  the  veins  of  the 
whites. 

When  soldiers  are  to  land  to  take 
Invaders  possession  of  a  new  country,  warships 
Protected,  take  up  their  positions  within  firing 
range,  and  under  the  protection  of 
their  guns  the  soldiers  take  possession  of  the  con- 
quered territory.  Under  the  protection  of  the  mob 
which  Southern  statesmanship  has  thus  far  failed  to 
suppress,  white  men  are  daily  invading  the  Negro 
race  and  making  efforts  that  tend  in  the  direction 
of  undoing  all  that  Southern  statesmanship  is  plan- 
ning for  the  future.  When  the  white  South  leaves  the 
colored  woman  in  the  open,  bereft  of  an  atmosphere 
of  respect,  denied  the  supporting  arm  of  the  Negro 
man,  subjected  to  the  unhampered  play  of  what- 
ever influences  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  her, 
it  would  seem  to  be  small  cause  for  wonder  if  white 
men  of  evil  design  succeeded  in  finding  the  weak 
creatures  of  the  race  who  join  with  them  in  pro- 
viding offsprings  whose  very  presence  in  the  world 
lessens  the  color  gap  between  the  races.  x  Every- 
time  the  white  South  fails  to  punish  the  white  as- 
sassin who  slays  the  Negro  that  warned  him  to  dis- 
continue his  efforts  to  beguile  his  daughter,  every 
time  a  mob  lynches  a  Negro  who  slays  in  pure  self- 
defense  the  white  man  who,  angered  at  being  told 
to  desist  from  his  evil  designs,  seeks  the  Negro's 


136  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

destruction,  just  that  much  progress  is  made  toward 
the  amalgamation  which  the  white  South  most 
bitterly  abhors,  which  the  Negro,  anxious  for  the 
perpetuity  of  his  own  class,  laments. 

The  question  very  pertinently  arises 
The  Courts  just  here  as  to  what  protection  the 
and  the  colored  woman  finds  in  the  courts 
Colored  of  the  South.  Often,  so  often,  the 
Woman.  colored  mother  of  unquestioned  re- 
spectability is  unable  to  even  get  a 
hearing  in  court  when  she  desires  to  lay  bare  a  wrong 
done  her  very  young  daughter  by  a  white  man. 
The  writer  has  personal  knowledge  of  several  re- 
spectable colored  mothers  who  were  unable  to  bring 
to  judgment  white  men  who  had  grievously  sinned 
against  their  daughters  of  tender  years.  If,  per- 
chance, a  colored  woman  who  has  been  wronged  by 
a  white  man  succeeds  in  getting  her  case  in  court, 
the  opposition  lawyer  so  lacerates  her  feelings,  so 
stabs  her  in  every  corner  of  an  already  wounded 
heart  that  she  regrets  the  day  that  she  so  much  as 
heard  of  a  court  room. 

But  the  plight  of  the  colored  woman, 
Sadder  the  indispensable  ally  of  the  white 
Still.  South  in  the  matter  of  maintaining 

the  separateness  of  the  blood  of  the 
two  races  is  far  more  pitiable  than  we  have  thus  far 
depicted.  Not  only  is  this  ally  the  subject  of  wanton 
insult  because  of  her  fear  that  the  mob  will  wreak 
vengeance  upon  the  male  that  she  might  summon 
to  her  protection;  not  only  does  she  encounter  ridi- 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  137 

cule  and  contempt  when  she  tries  to  go  to  court 
but  it  may  also  be  said  that  the  white  man  who 
aspires  to  a  relationship  with  her  that  means  and  can 
only  mean  in  its  larger  consequences  the  whitening 
of  the  Negro  race  and  the  ultimate  blending  of  the 
blood  of  the  two  races,  has  it  in  his  power  to  utilize 
the  mob  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  her  for  daring  to 
repulse  his  advances.  Of  course  he  could  not  openly 
avow  such  a  basis  for  his  grievance  and  gain  support 
from  the  more  respectable  classes,  but  he  could  easily 
put  forward  some  other  ground  for  complaint,  and, 
as  a  mob  is  not  a  judicial  body  that  carefully  sifts 
statements  and  searches  for  motives,  he  could  in 
this  way  wreak  vengeance  upon  the  colored  woman. 

Permit  us  just  here  to  cite  a  case 
Woman  that  will  clearly  illustrate  how  the  mob 
Terrorized,  can  be  called  into  action  to  chastise 
the  colored  woman  because  of  her  hav- 
ing repulsed  the  advances  of  a  white  man.  There 
lived  in  one  of  the  smaller  towns  of  the  South  a 
mulatto  woman  of  high  standing  among  both  the 
white  and  colored  people.  Her  husband  enjoyed 
the  good  will  of  the  whites  to  a  marked  degree  and 
mainly  through  their  influence  held  the  position  of 
principal  of  the  colored  school  of  the  town.  One 
day  the  colored  woman  in  question  had  occasion  to 
enter  a  white  man's  clothing  store  for  the  purpose 
of  making  a  few  purchases.  The  proprietor  waited 
on  her  and  while  so  doing  sought  to  converse  with 
her  in  a  familiar  sort  of  way,  calling  her  flatly  by  her 
given  name.  She  had  heard  that  he  had  said  that  he 
was  desirous  of  the  friendship  of  some  nice-looking 


138  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

colored  woman,  and  perceived  that  he  was  trying 
to  lay  the  foundation  for  improper  advances  toward 
her.  When  he  leaned  over  to  talk  to  her  in  an  offen- 
sive manner,  she  said,  "I  would  rather  that  you 
would  not  talk  to  me  at  all.  Just  sell  me  the  goods 
and  let  me  go."  That  afternoon  the  white  man 
accosted  this  woman's  husband  and  told  him  that 
he  must  send  his  wife  to  him  to  apologize  or  else 
he  would  wreak  vengeance  upon  him.  Later,  on 
hearing  that  the  colored  woman  had  said  that 
she  would  never  again  set  foot  in  his  store  this  white 
man  went  to  her  place  of  business,  ordered  her  to 
cease  all  criticism  of  himself,  insisted  that  she  had 
to  pay  his  store  another  visit,  and  threatened  to 
organize  a  midnight  mob  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
her  out  at  night  and  severely  whipping  her.  The 
affair  between  this  white  man  and  colored  woman  be- 
came known  to  the  whites  of  the  town  and  he  succeed- 
ed in  lining  up  the  white  people  on  his  side  by  stating 
that  the  trouble  was  wholly  due  to  the  desire  of  this 
woman  to  be  called  Mrs.  Had  the  mob  been  formed 
the  rallying  cry,  of  course,  would  have  been  to  keep 
a  "smart"  colored  woman  in  her  place,  whereas 
she  would  have  been  receiving  punishment  for  not 
having  become  the  mother,  perhaps,  of  a  child  which 
under  the  circumstances  would  have  been  so  light 
of  complexion  as  to  be  able  to  easily  carry  its  share 
of  Negro  blood  into  the  white  race. 

In  a  certain  community  in  one  of  our 

Preacher       Southern  states  some  Negro  girls  who 

Driven  Out.  had  been  led   astray  by  white  men 

listened  to  a  sermon  from  the  Negro 

pastor,  which  caused  them  to  discard  their  alliances. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  139 

Their  white  companions  insisted  upon  knowing  the 
cause  of  their  change  of  attitude  and  were  told  that 
the  minister  had  shown  them  the  error  of  their  way. 
Straightway  these  young  men  formed  a  mob,  assault- 
ed the  minister  and  drove  him  from  the  community, 
threatening  to  kill  him  if  he  returned.  And  through- 
out many  a  section  of  the  South  the  menace  of  the 
mob  hangs  over  the  pulpit  offering  death  to  any 
Negro  minister  who  cries  out  against  a  course  that 
inevitably  leads  to  the  disappearance  of  the  Negro 
race  through  its  final  absorption  into  the  white  race. 

White  statesmen  of  the  South,  look, 
Is  it  if  but  for  a  moment,  at  what  a  situation 

Wise?  confronts  you!    Here  you  are  search- 

ing for  every  influence,  every  device 
to  keep  the  two  races  apart.  All  of  your  devices 
will  be  absolutely  worthless  without  racial  chastity 
on  the  part  of  the  colored  woman.  Suppose,  as  in 
New  Orleans,  you  erect  screens  on  the  street  cars 
to  separate  the  races.  The  absence  of  racial  chastity 
on  the  part  of  the  colored  woman  could  render  your 
screens  useless  by  giving  to  you  a  progeny  that  could 
come  from  behind  those  screens.  Is  it,  therefore 
wise  in  you,  is  it  in  keeping  with  the  dictates  of 
enlightened  self-interest  for  you  to  suffer  your  most 
needed  ally  to  stand  out  in  her  present  unprotected 
state? 

But  one  will  say  "We  know  that  the 

The  White        mob  sometimes  kills  innocent   Ne- 

Woman  and     groes,  decreases  values,  is  frequently 

The  Mob.        invoked  to  deal  with  minor  offenses, 

and  for  aught  we  know  may  operate  to 


14C  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  disadvantage  of  the  colored  woman,  but  it  is 
needed  now  and  then  to  be  used  for  the  protection  of 
the  white  woman,  and  therefore  must  be  preserved 
even  if  it  is  diverted  from  time  to  time  from  the 
main  purpose  for  which  it  is  retained."  Far  from 
aiding  the  white  woman  the  mob  works  injury  to 
her  cause.  Its  methods  often  arouse  the  germs  of 
evil  in  the  bosoms  of  depraved  Negroes  and  the 
result  is  an  increase  of  the  very  offense  of  which  com- 
plaint is  made.  He  is  not  a  wise  friend  to  the  white 
woman  who  indulges  in  practices  that  brutalize  and 
inflame  the  minds  of  beings  by  whom  she  is  sur- 
rounded and  among  whom  she  must  move.  The 
interests  of  the  white  woman  call  for  a  decrease  in 
savagery,  not  its  increase.  Nor  is  this  stubborn 
fact  altered  in  the  slightest  by  the  other  fact  that  the 
white  mob  has  it  in  its  power  to  kill  with  torture 
every  savage  that  appears,  for  all  the  torture  inflicted 
can  not  recall  from  the  victim  her  horrible  expe- 
riences. Why  then  cause  an  increase  of  victims  by 
increasing  savagery?  No,  the  mob  is  no  help  to  the 
cause  of  the  white  woman. 

On  the  contrary  the  white  woman's 
White  Worn-  most  vital  interests  are  bound  up  ;n 
an's  True  the  matter  of  protecting  the  colored 
Interests.  woman.  Whenever  a  white  man  takes 
up  his  abode  in  the  Negro  race  in  mari- 
tal relationship  it  is  some  white  woman's  loss.  He 
either  fails  to  wed  a  white  woman  or  if  wedded,  so 
divides  his  attention  as  to  be  far  removed  from 
what  would  be  termed  an  ideal  husband.  Thousands 
of  unwedded  white  women  in  the  South  have  been 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  141 

cut  short  of  their  possible  mates  through  the  de- 
parture of  white  men  into  the  Negro  race.  Moreover 
many  a  distempered  white  husband  is  such  toward 
his  wife  because  of  his  Negro  affiliations.  A  white 
woman  in  one  of  our  Southern  cities  remarked  to  a 
Negro  woman  with  whom  she  was  on  friendly  terms 
that  she  could  always  tell  when  her  husband  was 
paying  attention  to  a  colored  woman  by  the  un- 
pleasantness that  he  brought  home  during  those 
periods.  In  appraising  the  equity  of  the  white 
woman  in  this  matter,  we  cannot  leave  out  the  depth 
of  chagrin,  the  utter  humiliation  that  many  of  them 
are  made  to  endure  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  their 
husbands  are  rearing  families  in  both  races.  By 
virtue,  then,  of  the  equity  of  the  white  woman  in 
this  matter,  her  interests  lie  in  the  direction  of  those 
things  calculated  to  make  it  more  difficult  for  the 

white  man  to  seek  to  enter  the  Negro  race. 

i 
Not  only  has  the  white  woman  an 

White  Worn-  equity  in  this  matter,  but  great  power 
an's  Help.  as  well.  The  one  great  need  of  the 
situation  is  an  atmosphere  of  respect 
for  the  colored  woman.  Where  that  is  lacking  all 
the  evils  complained  of  are  sure  to  abound,  but  with 
the  coming  of  respect,  will  come  a  desire  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  colored  woman.  The  white  woman's 
opportunity  is  to  be  found  in  her  control  of  the  fire- 
side and  the  social  realm  where  she  can  foster  an 
atmosphere  of  respect.  As  the  white  mother  buckles 
down  to  the  task  of  so  fashioning  the  heart  of  her 
offspring  that  he  will  be  imbued  with  the  unyielding 
ambition  to  hand  over  to  posterity  an  unmixed 


142  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

Anglo-Saxondom,  may  it  be  hers  to  succeed  in 
planting  deep  in  the  bosoms  of  her  sons  a  feeling  of 
respect  for  the  colored  woman,  and  with  the  re- 
straining influence  of  respect  as  a  factor  in  the  situa- 
tion the  misalliances  will  assuredly  be  fewer  in  num- 
ber. 

As  we  view  the  matter,  every  in- 
Sacred  terest  of  the  white  race,  if  its  one  pas- 
Atrnos-  sionate  dream  of  an  unmixed  race  is  to  be 
phere.  fulfilled  calls  for  the  protection  of  the 
Negro  woman.  She  should  be  encouraged 
to  speak  out.  The  courts  of  the  land  should  be 
thrown  wide  for  her  protection.  She  should  not  be 
left  alone  in  her  struggle  to  save  her  daughter  from 
the  wooer  of  the  other  race.  The  mob  should  be 
suppressed.  The  entire  white  South  looking  out 
for  the  ultimate  purity  of  its  own  blood  should  in 
every  way  possible  sound  the  slogan  that  the  colored 
woman  must  have  as  sacred  an  atmosphere  to  sur- 
round her  and  her  daughters  as  the  best  civiliza- 
tion affords.  The  colored  woman  is  entitled  to  re- 
spect and  protection  in  her  own  right,  but  if  such 
a  plea  should  fall  on  deaf  ears  surely  the  white 
South's  own  interests  will  be  heard  as  they  too  cry 
aloud  for  the  protection  of  the  colored  woman. 


VII.  HOW  TO  KEEP  THE  COLORED 
RACE  FROM  BEING  A  BURDEN. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


HOW 


TO  KEEP    THE   COLORED  RACE 
FROM  BEING  A  BURDEN. 


"Why  kill  the  hen  that  lays  the  gold- 
Is  Crime  en  egg?  Since  the  Negroes  who  are 
Profitable?  sent  to  the  penitentiaries  in  the  South 
by  the  thousands  annually  are  so  farmed 
out  that  they  produce  a  handsome  revenue  for 
the  state  treasuries  why  should  cool-headed  business 
men  of  the  white  race  be  concerned  about  reducing 
the  number  of  Negro  criminals?  Ought  sensible 
men  shed  tears  when,  people  of  their  own  volition, 
break  the  law  and  are  thenceforth  put  to  work  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  reduce  the  tax  rate?"  But  is 
the  Negro  criminal  a  hen  laying  a  golden  egg?  When 
all  the  facts  are  in,  is  the  criminal  in  reality  an  asset, 
a  paying  institution? 

Much  depends  upon  what  those  who 
Cost  of  are  now  shaping  the  destiny  of  the 
Crime.  South  think  on  this  subject.  The 

first  step  toward  a  life  of  crime  is  a  life 
of  idleness.  Crime  and  steady  employment  are 
sometimes  found  in  each  other's  company,  but  as 

(145) 


146  WISDOM'S  GALL. 

a  rule  they  are  not  very  good  mates.  In  order  that 
he  may  have  ample  time  and  the  very  best  oppor- 
tunities to  plan  and  to  execute  his  crimes,  the  man 
who  decides  to  follow  a  life  of  crime,  usually  with- 
draws himself  from  honorable  gainful  occupations. 
Being  unemployed  he  can  move  about  at  will  and  is 
under  no  obligations  to  account  to  any  one  as  to 
his  whereabouts.  His  incoming  and  outgoing  are 
not  subject  to  the  supervision  of  an  employer. 
This  idleness  on  the  part  of  the  criminal  class,  the 
idleness  which  precedes  incarceration  and  is  of  an 
extensive  and  ever-present  character,  subtracts 
just  that  much  from  the  stock  of  useful  things  that 
should  be  produced  by  the  human  race  in  its  efforts 
to  maintain  itself.  For  the  world  to  fare  well,  it 
requires  the  world  to  take  care  of  the  world;  else 
some  one  is  pulling  a  double  load.  When  some  are 
drones,  it  can  only  mean  more  toil  for  the  toilers. 
Multiply  what  is  reasonably  expected  of  the  average 
man,  by  the  number  of  idle,  uncaught  criminals 
now  roaming  the  earth  and  you  have  the  enormous 
loss  that  society  is  sustaining  through  their  failure 
to  engage  in  honorable  pursuits.  Even  those  crimi- 
nals now  in  prison  and  at  work,  must  have  charged 
against  them  the  periods  of  idleness  and  consequent 
loss  to  society  that  preceded  their  capture  and  in- 
carceration. 

Not  only  does  society  suffer  a  negative  loss 
through  the  failure  of  those  gravitating  toward 
the  prisons  to  be  producers,  but  the  loss  is  also  posi- 
tive in  that  the  criminals,  though  not  at  work  eat 
food  and  wear  clothes  produced  by  others,  and  are 
thus  a  drain  on  others.  In  the  loss  sustained  by 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  147 

society  must  also  be  figured  the  damage  to  and 
destruction  of  property  involved  in  thievery  and  bur- 
glary and  the  disarrangement  of  values  caused  by  the 
abstraction  of  property  from  its  rightful  owners  and 
its  transfers  to  the  hands  of  others.  But  by  far  the 
greatest  source  of  expense  is  that  incurred  by  the 
state  in  providing  means  for  the  apprehension  and 
conviction  of  the  criminals.  To  cope  with  the  army 
of  non-producing  criminals  there  must  be  another 
army  composed  of  non-producing  guardians  of  the 
peace.  What  this  second  army  might  produce  for 
the  good  of  the  world  is  lost,  and  their  task  is  that 
of  conserving  what  others  produce,  which  is  a  direct 
tax  upon  the  production  of  the  others.  Yes,  charge 
to  the  accounts  of  the  criminal  the  cost  of  the  entire 
police  system  and  detective  agencies,  the  salaries 
of  sheriffs,  deputies,  constables,  jailers,  judges,  court 
clerks,  prison  wardens,  guards,  the  fees  of  jurors, 
the  cost  of  jails,  penitentiaries  and  criminal  court- 
buildings,  and  the  expense  of  feeding  and  clothing 
the  inmates  of  penal  institutions.  When  the  cost 
of  the  criminal  as  here  briefly  outlined  is  placed 
over  against  the  pittances  that  reach  the  state 
treasuries  from  the  hands  of  the  prison  management, 
it  can  be  seen  that  the  criminal  is  a  tremendous 
drain  upon  society.  So  great  is  the  disparity  be- 
tween what  the  criminal  costs  and  what  he  brings 
that  those  who  would  retain  him  as  an  asset  are 
not  even  so  wise  as  those  proverbial  characters  who 
deem  it  good  business  to  rob  Peter  to  pay  Paul;  for 
in  this  case,  Paul,  the  state  treasury,  does  not  get  a 
tithe  of  what  is  taken  out  of  the  pockets  of  Peter, 


148  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  people,  because  of  the  existence  of  the  criminal 
class. 

Such  is  the  cost  of  the  criminal  in 
The  Negro  general.  Let  us  glance  now  at  the 
Criminal,  special  opportunities  of  the  Negro 
criminal  to  pile  up  costs  on  society. 
Since  the  day  on  which  Nathan  stood  before  David 
to  tell  him  of  a  wrong  that  had  been  committed  in 
the  latter's  kingdom,  (and  before  that  day  as  well) 
men  have  had  a  habit  of  viewing  the  sins  of  others 
with  a  greater  degree  of  horror  than  that  with  which 
they  contemplate  their  own.  As  sin  draws  nigh  to  a 
man's  own  door,  through  some  magic  process  it  sheds 
a  portion  of  its  hideousness,  so  that  the  man  simply 
laments  in  himself  that  which  he  violently  denounces 
in  others.  Thus  the  white  people  of  the  South  have 
an  extra  vial  of  wrath  for  the  Negro  criminal,  and 
this  criminal  has  it  in  his  power  to  uncork  this  extra 
vial.  It  is  the  function  of  civilization  to  lull  to  sleep 
the  primitive  passions  of  men;  to  keep  securely 
tethered  those  powerful  giants  of  wickedness  yet 
found  in  the  human  bosom;  to  give  to  mankind  a 
life  of  law  and  order.  Through  toil  and  sorrow  and 
the  untimely  death  of  countless  thousands  a  measure 
of  social  order  has  been  evolved,  the  giant  passions 
subdued.  But  the  perpetration  of  some  peculiarly 
revolting  crime  by  a  Negro  often  gives  these  giants 
an  inspiration  that  enables  them  to  break  their 
bands  and  make  wild  rushes  through  earth.  Once 
upon  a  rampage,  they  batter  down  the  fabric  of  the 
law,  trample  under  foot  the  most  sacred 
usages  of  civilization,  and  clearly  reveal  how  much 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  149 

of  the  savage  and  of  the  beast  yet  lurks  in  the  heart 
of  man. 

But  the  capacity  of  the  Negro  criminal  to  work 
harm  is  wider  still.  Following  the  perpetration  of 
a  heinous  crime  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  there 
often  comes  the  shrinkage  of  good  will  toward 
the  Negro  race  on  the  part  of  the  whites,  perhaps 
because  the  environing  influences  of  the  race  failed, 
for  some  cause,  to  prevent  the  evolution  of  the  offend- 
ing criminal.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Negroes  do 
not  take  kindly  to  the  fact  the  accused  was  not  al- 
lowed an  opportunity  of  being  heard  in  open  court 
in  his  own  defense,  and  was  denied  handling  accord- 
ing to  the  terms  of  the  law.  Thus  the  Negro  crim- 
inal, condemned  by  both  races,  nevertheless  becomes 
the  entering  wedge  to  drive  the  two  races  further 
and  further  apart,  and  to  sunder  the  spirit  of  accord 
without  which  chaos  will  reign  in  the  land. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
Ravages  Negro  criminal  has  it  in  his  power  to 
of  the  summon  the  mob,  we  must  follow  the 

Mob.  trail  of  his  cost  by  following  the  path- 

way of  the  mob.  The  mob  lowers 
the  opinion  of  mankind  as  to  the  ability  of  the  com- 
munities furnishing  it  to  conduct  a  civilization 
of  law  and  order.  At  present  the  South  has  urgent 
need  within  its  borders  of  more  substantial  families 
and  of  vast  sums  of  foreign  capital  to  develop  its 
resources.  But,  when  men  from  afar  hear  of  the 
work  of  the  mob,  they  hesitate  about  bringing  their 
families,  about  coming  themselves  and  about  in- 
vesting their  money.  Marvelous  as  has  been  the 


150  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

material  development  of  the  South  in  recent  years, 
it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  mob  has  kept  mil- 
lions and  billions  out  of  the  South  through  the  law- 
less handling  of  the  Negro  criminal,  who  could 
have  been  better  handled  and  without  the  result- 
ing loss.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  harm,  the 
vast  incalculable  harm  that  a  Negro  criminal  under 
existing  conditions,  is  capable  of  doing,  it  should 
be  the  prayer  of  us  all  that  an  influence  may  be 
brought  from  some  source  to  remove  him  as  a 
factor  from  the  life  of  the  community. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration 
What  De-  of  a  few  factors  in  the  development  of 
velops  Negro  criminals,  such  factors  as  come 

Criminals,  within  the  purview  of  those  dealing 
with  the  affairs  of  state.  Statistics 
of  homicides  in  the  United  States  disclose  the  start- 
ling fact  that  the  greatest  slayers  of  men  in  the  coun- 
try are  Negroes,  whose  victims  are  usually  their 
fellow  Negroes.  The  question  very  naturally  arises 
as  to  how  the  Negroes  are  becoming  affected  in  so 
marked  a  manner  by  the  impulse  to  kill.  The  usual 
victim  of  a  mob  is  a  Negro.  The  concern  of  a  mother 
for  the  life  of  her  child  is  proverbial,  and  the  Negro 
mother  grows  to  regard  the  mob  as  the  greatest 
menace  to  the  life  of  her  offspring.  Every  time, 
therefore,  a  mob  is  formed  the  Negro  mother  en- 
gages in  a  spiritual  conflict  with  it.  While  the  mob, 
hot  on  the  trail  of  an  accused  Negro  is  peering  be- 
hind logs,  groping  through  dense  woods,  scouring 
the  entire  country  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
taking  the  life  of  the  suspected  Negro  the  moment 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  151 

he  is  caught,  there  surges  through  the  minds  of 
Negro  mothers  who  know  of  the  hunt  doubt  as  to 
the  guilt  of  the  pursued.  Often  they  feel  that  the 
Negro  who  is  being  trailed  is  innocent  and  that  his 
pursuers  are  murderers.  In  the  absence  of  a 
trial  and  conviction,  the  prisoner  is  given  the  benefit 
of  the  doubt.  The  mob  process  therefore  throws 
the  sympathy  of  the  Negro  mother  on  the  side  of 
the  accused.  The  maternal  instinct  always  causes 
her  to  have  murderous  thoughts  with  regard  to  the 
lynchers,  and  in  this  way  the  instinct  of  killing  is 
imparted  to  an  unborn  babe  soon  to  enter  the  world. 
When  we  stop  to  reflect  that  child-bearing  in 
the  human  family  is  constantly  going  on,  who  can 
begin  to  compute  the  number  of  murderers,  at  that 
time  unborn,  made  by  every  foray  of  a  mob? 
The  Negro  mother,  forced  to  bear  children  in  an 
atmosphere  of  murder  in  which  offsprings  like  unto 
her  own  are  the  chief  sufferers,  her  spirit  torn  and 
distracted,  has  but  small  chance  to  bring  her  child 
into  the  world  well  equipped.  A  colored  mother, 
who  had  passed  her  days  of  maternity,  once 
remarked:  "I  thank  God  that  my  days  of  becom- 
ing a  mother  are  gone.  I  tremble  to  think  of  what 
a  boy  of  mine  might  become  in  view  of  the  feelings 
stirred  within  me  by  the  mob."  The  various  states 
are  adopting  the  policy  of  bringing  the  prisoners 
that  are  to  be  executed  to  the  state  prisons, 
where  private  executions  can  take  place,  and  this  is  an 
admission  of  the  demoralizing  effects  of  publicity 
in  connection  with  the  taking  of  human  life. 
The  mob  in  its  mad  gallop  from  one  end  of  the 


152  WISDOM'S  CAIX. 

country  to  the  other  will  drop  its  homicidal  germs 
at  every  door,  especially  the  door  of  the  colored 
mother.  The  Negro  criminal  is  no  friend  to  the  South 
nor  to  the  nation.  Why,  oh  why  then,  does  the 
South,  and  sometimes  certain  sections  of  the  North 
provide  an  atmosphere,  charged  and  surcharged 
with  murder,  to  surround  and  completely  envelop 
the  Negro  mothers  who  cannot  help  but  write  what 
they  feel  on  the  souls  of  their  unborn  babes?  With 
the  mobs  preparing  thousands  of  babes  to  enter  the 
world  as  criminals,  with  these  criminal  babes  grow- 
ing to  manhood,  shocking  humanity  and  affording 
the  occasion  for  thousands  of  whites  to  be  law- 
tramplers  and  life-takers  where,  indeed,  is  the  end? 
The  South  should  arise  in  its  might  and  put  down 
the  mob  as  the  arch-breeder  of  criminals. 

We  shall  now  address  ourselves  to 
Negroes  of  another  factor  bearing  upon  the  pro- 
Distinction  duction  of  the  Negro  criminal.  In 
Needed.  the  days  of  slavery  in  the  South  the 
Negro  of  distinction  was  regarded  as 
both  a  needless  and  dangerous  factor  in  the  situation. 
A  man  of  distinction  serves  as  a  rallying  point  for 
the  masses  of  men.  The  gaining  of  attention  must 
precede  leadership.  The  fact  that  Saul  was  head 
and  neck  above  his  fellows,  and  therefore  attracted 
attention  wherever  he  went,  helped  to  qualify  him 
for  the  kingship  of  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  their 
search  for  a  head  for  their  proposed  kingdom.  David's 
distinction  came  from  a  source  other  than  that  of 
height,  but  it  was  distinction,  nevertheless.  As  the 
Negro  of  distinction  might  have  served  as  a  rallying 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  153 

point  for  the  slaves,  pains  were  taken  to  see  to  it 
that  there  should  be  no  Negro  of  distinction.  Here 
we  have  the  basis  of  the  original  unpopularity  of 
the  idea  of  having  a  Negro  towering  above  his  fel- 
lows. But  the  white  South,  whether  as  a  whole  it  at 
present  so  sees  the  matter  or  not,  now  needs  the 
Negro  of  distinction,  needs  him  badly.  Since  the 
external  restraints,  the  close  espionage,  the  whip 
and  the  lash  of  slavery  are  gone  something  must 
be  found  within  the  Negro  to  take  their  place.  An 
internal  monitor  is  needed  as  a  guide  and  help  for 
his  soul. 

The  white  people  have  bedecked 
What  Helps  their  skies  everywhere  with  beckon- 
White  Boys,  ing  stars  to  appeal  to  their  youths. 
There  are  the  alderman,  the  mayor, 
the  legislator,  the  governor,  the  judge,  the  Congress- 
man, the  diplomat  and  the  President  standing  in  long 
array  saying  to  the  white  youth:  "Be  decent,  keep 
your  record  clear,  then  pick  your  place  in  this  line 
of  men  who  have  been  honored  by  their  fellows." 
What  a  great  asset  this  is  for  the  white  race!  How 
much  it  aids  it  in  saving  its  boys  from  downward 
careers!  The  mothers  have  arguments  with  which 
to  ply  the  hearts  of  their  boys  when  they  would  go 
wrong.  In  this  connection  let  us  now  read  the  story 
of  the  rise  of  Col.  James  Gordon  of  Mississippi  whose 
brief  stay  in  the  United  States  Senate  brought  him 
national  fame. 

"I  will  tell  how  I  came  to  be  a  United  States 
Senator.  I  started  when  I  was  five  years  old.  It 
took  me  a  long  while  to  get  here,  and  I  found  it  a 


154  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

very  rugged  road  to  travel;  but  I  did  get  here. 
When  I  was  a  little  chap  about  five  years  of  age — I 
will  tell  you  a  story,  and  you  may  tell  your  children, 
and  you  old  fellows  may  tell  your  grandchildren— 
I  received  as  a  present  something  like  a  map  on 
pasteboard.  It  had  this  great  Capitol  as  a  picture 
at  the  top  of  it  and  squares  with  numbers  on  them. 
Those  numbers  represented  all  the  passions  that  had 
escaped  from  Pandora's  box.  That  map  had  marked 
on  it  all  the  temptations  that  would  befall  a  youth 
coming  up.  It  had  a  little  teetotem,  as  it  was  called 
in  octagon  shape,  and  it  had  numbers  on  it  up  to  eight, 
on  which  to  spin.  My  mother  used  to  take  me  to 
her  side.  If  you  should  spin  the  teetotem  and  it 
went  over  the  mark  and  got  on  a  bad  place  in  the 
square,  that  would  be  one  of  the  bad  passions;  but 
if  it  escaped  all  those,  and  the  teetotem  got  on  the 
great  Capitol  of  the  United  States,  you  would  be 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  I  saw  a  great  big 
fellow  sitting  up  there  in  that  stand.  I  wanted  to 
know  of  Ma,  if  I  would  get  there;  and,  God  helping 
me,  I  got  there  yesterday.  (Laughter.)  She  told 
me  that  if  I  would  lead  a  clean  life  and  form  no  bad 
habits  I  would  be  sure  to  get  there.  She  never 
told  a  story  in  her  life,  and  so  I  knew  it  would  come 
true.  In  all  my  life,  Senators,  that  thing  has  stuck 
to  me,  and  every  time  I  wanted  to  do  wrong  I  saw 
one  of  those  passions  on  that  board,  and  that  board 
has  stood  before  my  eyes  from  that  day  until  to-day, 
though  I  have  never  made  it  public  until  now.  I 
thought  this  was  the  place  to  do  it." 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  155 

The  problem  of  the  colored  mother 
Door  of  of  the  South  and  of  the  nation  is: 
Hope.  "What,  Oh,  what  can  I  say  to  my  boy 

to  bid  him  hope?"  When  she  consid- 
ers the  whirlpools  of  evil  all  around  him,  ready  to 
lure  and  suck  him  under,  her  heart  cries  out  for 
some  strong  word  of  hope  that  she  may  shout  to 
him  and  cause  him  to  be  forever  alert  and  steer  his 
vessel  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  Even  if  the 
mother  is  able  to  rise  above  unpromising  signs  of  the 
times,  and  impart  hope  where  there  seems  no  ground 
for  hope,  the  day  is  to  come  when  the  youth  will  be 
able  to  observe  and  draw  conclusions  for  himself. 
Many  a  Negro  lad,  inspired  by  his  mother,  has  be- 
gun his  upward  journey  with  a  rush.  But,  finding 
the  world  hostile  to  his  aspirations  because  of  his 
color,  he  has  often  become  hopeless,  aimless,  has 
sunk  lower,  lower,  lower  until  it  required  a  judge, 
jury,  sheriff,  prison  warden  and  guard  to  manage 
him,  whereas,  but  for  the  death  of  hope,  he  would 
have  been  his  own  keeper.  It  would  indeed  be  an 
immense  saving,  a  paying  investment  if  the  South 
would  enter  upon  a  policy  of  judiciously  honoring 
deserving  colored  men  in  the  various  communities 
that  they  might  serve  as  sources  of  imspiration  for 
the  millions  that  are  to  make  choice  as  to  whether 
they  are  to  be  a  benefit  or  a  tax  to  society.  Those 
men  who,  out  of  dislike  for  the  Negro,  or  for  what 
they  regard  as  good  cause,  would  deny  him  all  op- 
portunities for  preferment,  in  reality  work  against 
those  who  pay  the  taxes  in  that  they  break  down 
that  upward  look  on  the  part  of  thousands,  and  in- 
crease the  burdens  of  the  state  through  the  resultant 


156  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

criminality  that  ultimately  follows.  Looked  at 
purely  from  a  standpoint  of  dollars  and  cents,  ig- 
noring for  the  moment  all  higher  considerations, 
the  profound  discouragement  of  the  Negro,  at 
present  the  chief  labor  of  the  South,  would  be  the 
greatest  financial  tax  that  could  be  laid  upon  the 
South.  Men  labor,  not  so  much  for  the  love  of  work, 
nor  yet  so  much  for  themselves,  perhaps,  but  for 
what  lies  beyond  the  work,  and  the  better  future 
that  awaits  their  children.  But,  when  there  is 
nothing  beyond  the  day  of  toil,  when  men  can  see 
no  glimmer  of  hope  for  their  children— 

What  the  Much  has  been  said  in  derogation  of 
Amend-  the  adoption  of  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment Did.  ment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  extravagance  of  the 
reconstruction  governments  is  cited  as  evidence  of 
the  alleged  unwisdom  of  that  action. 

In  the  days  of  their  ignorance,  when  their  hearts 
were  warm  with  gratitude  for  deliverance  from 
slavery,  when  their  former  masters  were  holding 
aloof  and  refusing  to  treat  with  them  in  their  new 
role  of  citizenship,  it  is  true  that  the  Negroes  trusted 
their  cause  in  the  hands  of  many  unworthy  white 
men  who  acted  shamefully,  and  brought  reproach 
upon  the  Negro-supported  regime;  but  when  all 
the  losses  sustained  in  this  unfortunate  period  have 
been  added  together  and  thrown  over  against  the 
quickened  spirit  of  the  Negro  race,  the  upward  im- 
pulse, the  fever  of  progress,  begotten  by  the  confer- 
ring of  the  right  to  vote;  when,  as  the  years  roll  by, 
it  is  more  and  more  revealed,  how  much  more  of  a 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  157 

burden  an  unaspiring  people  is  than  one  properly 
awake,  it  will  then  be  seen  that  the  action  of  the 
nation  was  worth  all  of  its  painful  cost.  It  was 
no  small  thing  to  be  suddenly  lifted  from  the  posi- 
tion of  field  hand  to  that  of  a  sovereign  voter  in  the 
earth's  greatest  republic,  and  the  psychological 
effect  was  tremendous.  The  ability  of  the  Negro 
race  to  withstand  all  the  jars  that  have  come  since 
that  day,  and  yet  look  hopefully  toward  the  future 
is  beyond  doubt  due  in  large  measure  to  the  impreg- 
nation begotten  by  the  conferring  of  that  great  boon. 
Just  think  what  might  have  been!  No  desire  for 
education.  No  ambition  to  establish  home  life. 
No  interest  in  the  children.  Eating,  drinking, 
carousing,  lewdness.  A  wholesale  leap  into  the  caul- 
dron of  consuming  vices.  Laziness,  filth,  a  sliding 
back  into  barbarism.  All  these  things  might  have 
been,  and,  indeed,  there  were  those  who  predicted 
that  this  result  would  follow  emancipation.  But 
the  ballot  came,  and  with  it  the  girding  of  the  spirit 
of  the  race  to  meet  the  duties  imposed.  In  an  effort 
to  rise  to  the  dignity  of  the  occasion  the  Negro  got 
on  his  feet  spiritually. 

Oh,  men  of  the  white  South,  go  back 
How  the  to  your  boyhood  days!  Know  you 
White  man  not  how  you  arose;  how  often  your 
Rises.  minds  wandered,  your  feet,  perhaps, 

began  to  stray?  Know  you  not  what 
mighty  forces  bombarded  your  hearts  and  sought  to 
deposit  there  the  poison  that  would  have  made  for 
an  evil  life?  Know  you  not  that  amid  all  the  stren- 
uous times  of  your  young  souls  that  it  was  hope,  only 


158  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

hope,  that  kept  your  feet  from  going  too  far  afield, 
that  aided  you  to  keep  the  path  that  has  led  you  up 
to  renown?  The  Negro  youth  is  human.  He  must 
have  his  ambition  quickened;  must  have  goals  for 
which  to  strive;  must  have  incentives  to  nerve  him 
to  breast  unyieldingly  the  waves  of  temptations  that 
dash  against  him;  must  hear  a  sound  up  yonder  in 
the  heavens  of  hope  so  charming  as  to  drown  the  cry 
of  the  baser  passions  arising  from  the  depth  and  im- 
ploring him  to  descend. 

That  Negro  playmate  of  yours  who  romped  and 
wrestled  and  played  marbles  with  you;  who  cheered 
you  with  his  sunny  laugh  and  the  genial  warmth  of 
his  nature;  who,  alas  as  a  man  committed  that  awful 
crime,  which  shocked  the  world  and  brought  down 
upon  his  head  the  wrath  of  multitudes  that  wrecked 
your  law  in  seeking  to  be  rid  of  him — that  man  might 
have  been  so  different  if  the  white  South  had  not 
denied  to  him  all  hope  of  rising  in  the  sphere  of  civic 
duty!  Let  the  white  South  in  every  community 
take  up  the  matter  of  judiciously  honoring  worthy 
colored  men. 

The  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Taft,  trusting  to 
An  the  goodness  of  heart  of  the  white 

Appeal.  South,  while  insisting  upon  the  justice 
of  giving  recognition  to  worthy  Ne- 
groes, yet  left  the  matter  to  the  white  South,  express- 
ing the  hope  that  with  the  approval  of  that  element 
of  the  population,  the  needs  of  the  Negro  in  this  di- 
rection may  ultimately  be  met  in  a  larger  degree 
than  was  formerly  the  case.  May  it  come  to  pass 
that  the  white  South  shall  fully  realize  that  the  Negro 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  159 

criminal  is  an  awful  incubus,  and  that  the  human 
heart  of  the  Negro  is  subject  to  the  law  of  the  human 
family  and  can  only  be  handled  successfully  by 
dealing  with  it  as  other  human  hearts  are  dealt  with. 
Give  unto  the  Negro  full  opportunity  to  plant  beacon 
lights  in  the  form  of  Negroes  of  distinction  who  can 
serve  to  guide  the  oncoming  Negro  into  the  upward 
way. 

The  Negro  constitutes  a  part  of  the  state,  is 
part  of  the  social  body  that  makes  necessary  the  work 
of  administration.  Let  him  have  a  part  of  the  civil 
administrative  functions  to  aid  his  racial  life  as  the 
whites  use  them  to  aid  their  racial  life.  Let  not  the 
white  South  absorb  all  of  the  administrative  functions 
those  created  by  virtue  of  the  presence  of  the  Negroes 
and  those  created  by  the  presence  of  the  whites, 
and  leave  the  Negro  youth  to  the  darkness  and  de- 
spair that  brings  riot  to  the  soul  and  crime  to  the 
door  of  society. 


VIII.    THE  WHITE  MAN'S  EQUITY 
IN  NEGRO  EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  EQUITY  IN  NEGRO 
EDUCATION. 


The  European  mind  is  of  an  in- 
Skeptical  quiring  turn,  very  much  disposed  to 
Europe.  examine  with  great  care  reputed  hap- 
penings that  are  ascribed  to  supernat- 
ural agencies.  While  Asia  is  the  birthplace  of  all  the 
great  religions,  Europe  has  furnished  all  the  great 
criticisms  of  them.  Peter  preaching  to  Jews, 
children  of  Asia,  proclaimed  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  from  the  dead,  and  at  the  close  of  his  sermon 
had  three  thousand  persons  asking  for  baptism. 
Paul,  preaching  to  Greeks — Europeans,  was  making 
progress  it  seems,  until  he  mentioned  the  resur- 
rection, whereupon  the  Greek  mind  revolted,  mocked 
him  and  called  for  further  explanation.  Prying  is 
the  abiding  mood  of  the  European  mind,  and  it 
demands  a  look  at  the  foundation  stones  of  its 
temple  of  faith,  even  though  the  priest  thereof 
stands  in  the  doorway  threatening  death,  and 
asserting  that  the  proposed  look  at  the  foundation 
will  assuredly  over-turn  the  temple.  Sacred  veils 
are  ruthlessly  torn  from  the  face  of  every 

(163) 


164  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

mystery  that  comes  its  way  if  an  eager,  searching, 
never  tiring  human  mind  can  accomplish  that  end. 
It  was  a  mind  whose  roots  ran  back  to  Europe  that 
decided  to  be  no  longer  mystified  by  the  flashing  of 
the  lightnings  of  the  heavens,  and  sent  a  kite  to  play 
the  part  of  a  detective  in  the  upper  realms  and  bring 
back  to  earth  the  hitherto  awe-inspiring  secret  of  the 
skies.  It  was  the  mind  that  sprang  out  of  Europe 
that  resented  the  efforts  of  the  north  and  south  poles 
to  dwell  perpetually  in  a  maze  of  mystery,  and  thus 
it  was  that  boats  and  balloons,  dogs  and  men,  hunger, 
cold  and  death  were  pressed  into  service  in  an  effort 
to  see  and  to  know  what  are  these  alleged  poles.  To 
Europe  we  trace  the  mind  that  through  electricity 
has  made  man  swifter  than  the  horse,  stronger  than 
the  lion;  that  gazed  into  the  air  and,  watching  the 
birds,  discovered  the  secret  of  aerial  flight  and 
robbed  the  lordly  eagle  of  his  kingship  of  the  skies. 

Is  there  a  personal  God?  Is  the 
The  Child  Bible  His  inspired  word,  and  as  such 
Of  Europe,  free  from  all  error?  Was  Christ  divine, 
the  very  son  of  God?  Did  He  perform 
the  miracles  ascribed  to  Him?  Did  Christ  in  body 
rise  from  the  dead?  Is  the  soul  of  man  immortal? 
These  are  the  questions  which  have  engaged  the 
serious  thought  of  modern  Europe,  and  of  America, 
the  child  of  Europe.  In  England  and  New  England 
there  has  been  a  vigorous  questioning  of  all  that 
pertains  to  the  supernatural  found  in  the  Christian 
religion,  but  the  South  has  been  comparatively  free 
from  all  such  questionings.  No  higher  critics  there; 
no  heresy  trials;  no  bickerings  with  any  of  the  claims 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  165 

of  the  supernatural  made  for  Christ  by  the  New 
Testament  writers  or  by  himself.  The  South  is  the 
stronghold,  the  unapproachable  citadel  of  orthodoxy. 
Why  this  great  difference  between  the  South  and 
other  groups  of  people  of  European  descent?  What 
great  transforming  influence  has  been  at  work  to 
dig  in  the  mind  of  the  white  man  of  the  South  a 
capacity  for  faith  in  supernatural  things  equal  to 
that  of  the  Asiatic  mind?  Bombs  of  criticism  are 
exploding  under  the  ancient  faith  in  other  lands; 
the  thunderings  of  the  guns  of  the  South  are  heard 
only  in  defense  of  that  faith. 

We  shall  now  see  how  this  solidarity 
The  Cause,  of  the  white  South  has  been  brought 
about.  The  mind  of  the  African, 
like  unto  that  of  the  Asiatic  is  capable  of  profound, 
unquestioning  religious  belief.  Into  the  African's 
believing  heart  with  its  ocean-like  capacity  for 
faith  the  Christian  religion  was  poured  and  he 
accepted  it  in  its  entirety.  The  scriptural  accounts 
of  the  signs,  the  wonders,  the  miracles,  did  not 
repel  him  but  rather  served  to  enchant  his  warm 
imagination  and  draw  him  nearer  in  reverent  awe. 
Yes,  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  the  African  bowed 
his  head,  lifted  his  unquestioning  eyes  to  the  face 
of  the  loving,  bleeding,  dying  Christ  and  gave  over 
to  His  cause  every  nook  and  corner  of  his  mind 
and  heart.  The  children  of  the  white  South  were 
turned  over  to  the  care  of  the  African  women  who 
were  most  thoroughly  saturated  with  a  belief  in, 
and  a  love  for,  all  that  is  contained  in  the  Bible. 


166  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

These  African  women  told  the  white  children  of 
God,  of  the  devil,  of  hell  and  its  lurid  flames,  of 
the  signs  and  wonders  of  the  Bible;  told  of  those 
things  by  means  of  the  solemn  look,  the  quavering 
voice,  the  subdued  whisper  of  awe;  told  the  children 
with  that  impressiveness  which  can  be  found  only 
where,  there  is  full  faith  on  the  part  of  him  who 
tells.  Generation  after  generation  of  white  children 
passed  through  this  crucible.  It  is  thus  that  the 
mind  of  the  white  South  has  been  so  wrought 
upon  that  it  now  has  the  capacity  to  absorb  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible  concerning  supernatural  oc- 
currences while  other  minds  of  European  extraction 
are  "storm  swept  and  tempest  tossed." 

Here  is  a  matter  of  the  deepest 
What  it  possible  significance,  fraught  with  a 
Means.  lesson  so  very  plain  that  he  who  runs 
may  read.  Nothing  strikes  deeper 
than  the  fundamental  religious  bent  of  the  mind  of  a 
race,  and  yet  we  here  have  this  bent  of  the  white 
South  taken  in  charge  and  affected  in  a  way  that 
attracts  the  marked  attention  of  the  world;  for  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  South  is  known  and  spoken  of  by 
all  men.  Out  of  the  great  fact  here  cited  there 
comes  a  lesson  of  the  utmost  clearness,  that  the 
white  people  of  the  South  cannot  afford  for  their 
own  sakes  to  be  indifferent  to  the  kind  of  life  that 
flourishes  near  them.  If  white  people  sprang  into 
the  world  fully  matured  the  matter  might  not  be  so 
serious;  but  whatever  the  attainments  of  the  race, 
each  generation  has  to  come  into  the  world  absolutely 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  167 

ignorant,  and  grow  to  maturity  inhaling  whatever 
atmosphere  is  given  it.  And  the  lives  of  men  must 
ever  speak  of  what  their  souls  inhale. 

The  mere  drawing  of  the  line  in 
Slums  social  matters  does  not  in  any  degree 

Reach  solve  the  problem  here  indicated,  for, 

Upward.  even  in  the  absence  of  social  contact 
the  life  of  the  Negro  race  can  and  does 
affect  that  of  the  whites  powerfully.  The  white 
people  of  the  South  will  assert  that  their  parlors  are 
as  free  from  the  influence  of  Negro  slum  life  as  from 
the  influence  of  those  who  dwell  in  far  away  Bombay. 
But  is  this  indeed  the  case?  A  few  years  ago  Negro 
song  writers  conceived  the  idea  of  reducing  the 
philosophy  and  the  experiences  of  Negro  slum  life 
to  writing  and  embodying  them  in  song.  These  rag 
time  products  were  sung  in  the  theatres,  placed  on 
the  music  stands,  and  soon  were  heard,  coming  from 
the  lips  of  white  boys  and  young  men  whether  at  work 
or  play,  and  floating  from  the  music  rooms  of  the 
whites.  So  great  became  the  craze  for  this 'rag  time 
product  that  music  lovers  began  to  fear  for  the 
future  of  classical  music,  and  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  American  Musicians  felt  impelled  to  begin 
a  propaganda  against  rag  time  music.  Thus  we  see 
that  the  total  absence  of  the  Negro  from  the  white 
man's  parlor  did  not  prevent  his  exercising  an 
influence  on  that  parlor.  The  simple  fact  of  the 
matter  is  that  no  human  device  can  be  constructed 
which  can  prevent  the  infiltration  of  the  Negro  spirit 
into  the  life  of  the  white  race. 


168  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Southern 
Other  white  man's  love  for  the  joke  and  his 

Changes        habit   of  taking  time,    whatever   the 
Wrought,      business    in    hand,    to  hear  or   tell  a 
good  joke  are  traceable  to  his  contact 
with   the  fun-loving  Negro  nature. 

The  Negro  is  said  to  be  an  emotional  being.  In 
commenting  upon  the  emotional  character  of  the 
Democratic  national  convention  held  in  St.  Louis  a 
few  years  ago  a  trained  observer  who  was  reporting 
for  the  newspapers  said  in  the  course  of  his  account 
that  such  an  emotional  convention  could  not  have 
been  held  anywhere  save  in  a  Southern  city.  More 
recently  the  Confederate  veterans  made  such  a 
display  of  emotion  over  Gen.  Grant,  the  son  of  the 
man  who  led  the  Union  cause  to  final  victory,  that  a 
leading  Southern  journal  felt  called  upon  in  ironical 
vein  to  hold  the  emotional  outburst  up  to  ridicule, 
remarking  that  on  no  occasion  had  the  old  leaders 
and  heroes  of  the  South  been  accorded  such  a 
demonstration. 

Is  the  emotional  nature  of  the  Negro 
Are  The  writing  itself  in  the  soul  of  the  Southern 
Whites  Be-  white  man?  Glance  at  the  Southern 
ing  Trans-  white  man's  lynching  habit.  When  we 
formed?  consider  the  fact  that  the  white  man  of 
the  South  has  the  judge,  the  jury  and 
the  police  system  in  his  charge  and  can  therefore  do 
all  the  legal  hanging  that  he  desires;  when,  along 
with  this  fact  we  put  the  evils  of  lynchings — the 
blunting  of  the  sense  of  justice  by  the  lynching  of 
innocent  persons,  a  thing  of  frequent  occurrence; 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  169 

the  imparting  of  the  impulse  of  murder  to  the  un- 
born babes  of  Negro  mothers  who  are  so  often 
mentally  in  mortal  combat  with  the  mob;  the  in- 
flaming of  the  baser  passions  of  the  lower  elements, 
to  the  destruction  in  their  savage  breasts  of  that 
kindly  feeling  which  would  restrain  them  from 
crime  where  fear  of  punishment  would  fail;  the 
frightening  away  from  the  South  of  capital;  the 
checking  of  desirable  immigration;  when,  we  say, 
the  evils  of  lynching  are  considered  along  with  the 
fact  that  no  necessity  for  lynchings  exists,  we  are  led 
to  ask  the  question:  Does  the  white  man  lynch 
because  he  is  becoming  so  emotional  that  he  cannot 
control  himself?  Would  it  not  be  the  very  irony  of 
fate  for  the  Negroes  to  have  unconsciously  imparted 
to  the  white  people  that  emotional  nature  which  in 
themselves  has  been  wont  to  explode  mainly  in 
religious  fervor,  but  which  in  the  whites  explodes  in 
the  lynching  of  Negroes? 

At  the  recent  session  of  the  national 
Im-  Democratic     convention,     (the    con- 

parting  vention  in  which  representative 
Super-  Southern  thought  gathers  more  largely 

stitions.  than  in  any  other)  midnight  on  Thurs- 
day night  came  with  the  presidential 
nomination  still  to  be  made  before  adjournment. 
A  delegate  climbed  to  the  clock  and  turned  back  the 
hands  so  that  the  convention  might  proceed  with  its 
business  unmolested  by  the  thought  that  it  was 
transacting  business  on  Friday.  This  was  a  small 
incident,  but  how  much  did  it  signify?  To  what 
extent  has  the  faculty  for  superstitious  beliefs,  found 


170  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

in  the  masses  of  the  Negro  race,  written  itself  into 
the  natures  'of  the  Southern  whites?  In  the  Besse- 
mer Alabama  mines,  the  superstition  obtains  among 
the  Negro  miners  to  the  effect  that  it  is  the  most  un- 
lucky thing  in  the  world  for  a  woman  to  go  into  the 
mines,  and  it  is  said  that  the  white  officials  and 
employees  connected  with  the  mines  have  become 
very  largely  imbued  with  the  same  superstitious 
belief.  Shortly  after  having  learned  of  the  super- 
stition concerning  the  going  of  women  into  the  mines, 
the  writer  had  occasion  to  go  into  the  mining  district 
where  the  superstition  is  said  to  prevail.  Meeting 
a  colored  man  who  was  a  miner  of  that  district  we 
asked  him  about  the  existence  of  the  superstition 
and  then  put  to  him  the  following  question:  "Do 
the  white  men  connected  with  the  mines  fear  the 
entering  of  women  into  the  mines?" 

With  not  the  faintest  hint  of  the  theory  that  was 
at  work  in  our  mind,  and  without  an  instant's 
hesitation,  the  young  man  said:  "The  foreign 
white  men  such  as  Scotchmen  and  Frenchmen  who 
work  in  the  mines  do  not  have  the  superstition  but 
the  native  white  men,  the  Southerners,  do." 

Not  long  since  a  Southern  educator 

Result  of       instituted  an  investigation  of  a  certain 

an  Investi-  Southern   university   to   find   out   to 

gation.  what  extent  the  students,  all  white, 

were  superstitious.       The     following 

summary  of  his  findings  appeared  in  one  of  the 

leading  daily  newspapers  of  the  state  of  Mississippi: 

"One  boy,  for  example,  expressed  his  firm  belief 

that  if  he  picked  his  teeth  with  a  splinter  taken  from 


WISDOM'S  CALL,  171 

a  tree  that  had  been  struck  by  lightning,  he  would 
never  have  the  toothache.  A  number  believed  that 
hair  cut  at  the  time  of  the  new  moon  would  grow 
better  than  at  any  other  time,  while  many  expressed 
their  opinion  that  if  they  dropped  the  kitchen 
dish  rag  they  would  soon  have  company.  Others 
held  that  the  man  who  carried  a  potato  in  his  pocket 
would  never  have  rheumatism,  while  a  large  number 
believed  that  when  a  dog  howled  a  death  in  the 
family  was  impending.  There  were  others  as 
grotesque  and  as  absurd  as  these. 

The  amazing  thing  about  the  whole  affair  was 
that  so  many  of  the  students  believed  in  these 
superstitions.  Some  875  students  were  examined, 
and  of  this  number  forty-five  per  cent  believed  in 
superstitions  which  number  some  3,000.  Perhaps 
even  a  larger  percentage  of  the  students  believed  in 
some  superstitions,  or  at  least  partly  believed  in 
them.  Not  half  the  men  were  free  from  some  belief 
in  signs  and  omens.  These  are  facts  that  admit  of 
no  dispute." 

In  the  course  of  an  Editorial  headed 
Direct  "Superstition,"  The  Memphis Commer- 

Testimony  cial  Appeal,  among  other  things  had 
the  following  to  say:  "It  is  useless  to 
discuss  the  many  superstitions  of  the  day.  We  find 
them  on  the  street,  at  the  ball  game,  in  the  theater, 
in  fact,  everywhere  we  go.  *  *  *How  many  of 
our  older  generation  of  the  South,  who  once  had  an 
old  black  mammy,  can  forget  how  they  used  to  sit, 
huddled  up,  as  they  listened  to  blood-curdling 
stories  of  giants  and  witches?  Can  they  forget  how 


172  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

they  crept  between  the  sheets  at  night  and  pulled 
the  cover  over  their  head  fearing  to  see  some  awful 
creature  creep  from  the  shadow  of  the  darkness. 

Superstition  was  dreadful  but  delightful  then. 
We  shuddered  and  cold  chills  trembled  down  our 
back,  but  we  wanted  to  hear  the  same  story  again 
and  even  to  the  last  we  were  disappointed  because 
we  could  see  no  ghost,  although  we  imagined  we  would 
see  one  every  time  that  darkness  came." 

We  recognize  the  fact  that  the  human  family  as  a 
whole  is  more  or  less  suprestitious,  but  the  Southern 
white  man  has  something  like  a  double  portion  and 
the  above  citation  indicates  plainly  that  he  owes  his 
marked  development  along  this  line  to  the  Negro 
race. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Negroes 
Negro's  are  going  to  impress  whatever  of  soul 
Soul  Will  they  have  on  the  white  race,  and 
Be  Felt.  ultimately  upon  the  world,  it  behooves 
the  white  man  to  see  to  it  that  the 
influences  under  which  the  Negroes  are  to  live  are 
the  most  wholesome.  If  the  Negroes  are  left  to 
grow  up  in  ignorance,  in  superstition,  in  vice;  if  they 
are  allowed  to  become  a  dismal  swamp  in  which 
deadly  poisons  are  generated,  the  products  of  their 
souls  will  float  out  therefrom  and  make  themselves 
felt  on  the  spirits  of  the  whites  in  ways  that  none  of 
us  can  now  see.  Perhaps  the  poisoning  will  be  slow 
and  insiduous,  and  will  stand  revealed  only  when  it 
is  too  late  to  avoid  its  baneful  consequences. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  173 

In  the  heavens  above  us,  nature 
Earth  and  has  hung  the  plainest  sort  of  a 
Moon  Point  hint.  We  are  now  being  told  that 
a  Moral.  the  earth  in  the  far  distant  past  saw 

fit  to  capture  the  moon,  to  drag  it 
out  of  its  own  orbit  and  to  force  it  to  accompany  the 
earth  in  her  journeyings  around  the  sun.  While 
the  conquering  earth  has  profoundly  influenced 
the  destiny  of  the  moon,  the  captive  moon  has 
likewise  greatly  influenced  life  upon  the  earth. 
Withdraw  moonlight  from  the  earth  and  think  of 
what  would  have  to  be  withdrawn  from  song  and 
story;  think  of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides  that 
must  cease;  think  of  the  blendings  of  hearts  under 
the  benign  influence  of  the  moon's  rays  that  must 
be  cancelled. 

Tis  true,  'tis  very  true,  that  the  earth  captured 
the  moon,  but  it  is  not  less  true  that  the  moon  has 
affected  the  earth.  In  the  first  verse  of  the  first 
chapter  of  the  first  book  of  fate,  it  is  written,  plainly, 
solemnly  written,  that  in  whatever  proportion  the 
civilization  and  the  soul  of  the  white  man  do  not 
make  over  the  Negro,  to  that  extent  will  the  Negro 
make  over  that  civilization  and  that  soul. 

The  Negro  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  the 
industrial  life  of  the  South,  is  so  manifestly  its 
present  prop  that  all  thought  of  withdrawing  from 
him  as  a  solution  of  the  problem  here  raised,  is  out 
of  the  question.  Moreover,  the  more  the  Negroes 
are  left  to  themselves  the  more  opportunity  there  is 
for  them  to  flower  out  of  harmony  with  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  other  elements  of  the  population. 
Education  is  the  one  remedy. 


174  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

Having  seen  how  the  Negro,  left  in 
Value  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  can  provide 
Education,  an  atmosphere  that  will  discolor  the 
soul  of  the  white  race,  let  us  briefly 
glance  at  the  good  which  the  Negro  race,  well  ed- 
ucated, can  do.  When  culture  begins  to  take  hold 
of  the  mind  there  arises  a  desire  to  look  well.  Cheap, 
tawdry  things  lose  their  charm.  The  educated  Ne- 
gro helps  the  dealer  in  fine  fabrics.  Education 
brings  the  habit  of  reflection.  The  educated  colored 
man  begins  to  reflect  touching  the  question  of  paying 
rent.  Seeing  that  the  renter  pays  for  the  place  in  which 
he  dwells,  the  Negro  who  has  been  taught  to  think 
decides  to  buy  a  home.  Here  is  work  for  the  lawyer 
who  must  prepare  the  abstract  and  draw  up  the  deed. 
The  one-room  cabin  does  not  suit  the  taste  of  a  man 
with  a  broad  outlook,  so,  when  a  house  is  to  be 
constructed  there  is  work  on  hand  for  the  architect. 
Paint  must  go  on  the  building,  the  floor  must  have 
carpets  and  the  walls  must  have  paper.  These 
things  must  be  manufactured,  transported  and  sold, 
hence  here  is  work  for  the  manufacturer,  the  railroad 
and  the  merchant.  A  piano  must  enter  the  home, 
music  must  be  purchased,  hence  the  music  house  is 
patronized.  In  the  course  of  one's  training,  distant 
cities  have  been  read  about,  the  wonders  of  the  world, 
have  been  discussed,  so,  travel  becomes  a  necessity. 
At  this  point  the  railway  magnate  and  the  stock- 
holder come  in  for  their  share  of  profits  from  the 
educated  man.  Having  been  introduced  to  the 
affairs  of  mankind  in  general  through  education, 
the  mind  is  imbued  with  a  desire  to  keep  pace  with 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  175 

the  march  of  events,  so  the  magazine  and  the  daily 
paper  become  necessities.  Here  the  writer  and  the 
editor  draw  their  toll.  The  poet  with  his  song,  the 
artist  with  his  painting,  the  sculptor  with  his  stat- 
uary, the  man  of  letters  with  his  books  find  the  open 
door  at  the  home  of  the  man  of  culture.  For  the 
wants  herein  described,  funds  are  necessary.  So 
the  educated  man  has  powerful  incentives  to  keep  at 
work  or,  in  some  honorable  way  to  keep  others  at 
work  so  that  he  may  attain  the  desires  of  his  heart. 
Go  to  centers  where  the  fever  of  education  and 
progress  have  taken  hold  of  a  people  and  there  you 
will  find  a  steady  set  of  toilers  and  a  minimum  of 
idleness. 

The  white  man's  great  need  of  hav- 
Educated  ing  an  educated  Negro  race  could 
Negro  hardly  be  more  forcibly  demonstrated 

Race  than  by  referring  to  the  anti-tubercu- 

Plainly  losis  crusade.  The  chief  reliance  ot 
Needed.  the  civilized  world  for  stamping  out 
the  great  white  scourge  is  upon  the 
dissemination  of  knowledge  through  the  printed 
page.  The  men  who  in  their  laboratories  work  out 
the  causes  of  the  spread  of  the  disease  invoke  the 
aid  of  printers'  ink  to  give  their  findings  to  the  world. 
Let  us  suppose  that  the  Southern  whites  read  this 
literature,  become  thoroughly  aroused  and  deter- 
mine to  be  rid  of  the  disease.  How  can  they  hope 
to  stamp  it  out  without  the  aid  of  the  Negroes  who 
seem  more  susceptible  to  it  than  the  whites?  If  the 
Negroes  keep  the  germs  in  the  community  the  whites 
will  be  sure  to  inhale  a  goodly  portion  of  them. 


176  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

Thus  the  work  of  the  whites  in  defending  themselves 
against  the  plague  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  half 
accomplished  until  the  Negroes  have  also  been 
aroused.  But  if  the  Negroes  are  uneducated,  have 
no  inclination  for  reading,  how  are  they  to  be 
reached  by  means  01  the  printed  page? 

When  the  tuberculosis  exhibit  was  in  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  entire  white  popula- 
tion was  aroused,  those  directly  concerned  in  the 
management  of  the  exhibit  were  sorely  disappointed, 
and  somewhat  puzzled  as  well,  over  the  fact  that  the 
Negro  masses  took  such  slight  interest  in  what  was 
being  done.  They  realized  that  Nashville  was  by 
no  means  saved  from  the  scourge  until  the  Negroes 
were  aroused.  The  simple  fact  of  the  matter  was 
the  Negro  masses  had  not  read  of  the  exhibit,  and 
thousands  of  them  did  not  know  that  it  was  in  the 
city.  These  masses  who  did  not  read  can  harbor 
tuberculosis  germs  as  splendidly  as  the  most  cul- 
tured person  in  the  world,  and  the  means  should 
be  on  hands  for  reaching  them. 

What  is  here  said  with  reference  to  the  impedi- 
ments in  the  way  of  the  success  of  the  anti-tubercu- 
losis crusade  can  be  applied  with  equal  force  to  what- 
ever reforms  the  South  may  desire  to  effect,  whether 
it  be  to  suppress  the  typhoid  fever  through  the  driv- 
ing out  of  the  fly,  or  to  be  rid  of  the  boll  weevil,  or  to 
emancipate  the  South  financially  through  the  diversi- 
fication of  crops  and  the  consequent  retention  at 
home  of  the  millions  now  needlessly  sent  out  of  the 
borders  of  that  section.  Until  the  enlightened 
element  of  the  white  South  has  devised  a  means  of 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  177 

speaking  to  the  Negroes,  of  informing  them  of  such 
readjustments  as  are  necessary,  that  section  will  fall 
far  below  its  possibilities  and  abide  in  evils  of  which 
it  could  so  easily  be  rid.  Education  paves  the  way 
for  this  much  needed  speaking. 

We  are  now  to  call  attention  to 
To  Know  another  consideration  of  transcendent 
Each  importance  calling  for  the  education 

Other.  of  the  Negroes.     It  is  a  well  known 

fact  that  mutual  knowledge  begets  a 
better  understanding  between  peoples.  A  governor 
of  Massachusetts  speaking  to  a  New  Orleans  audience 
of  Southern  whites  said  that  if  the  North  had  under- 
stood the  South  as  well  before  the  time  of  the  Civil 
War  as  it  now  does,  that  there  would  not  have  been 
any  war  between  the  sections.  The  fact  that  ig- 
norance is  largely  the  groundwork  of  dislike  between 
individuals  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  following 
dialogue,  given  from  memory,  which  took  place 
between  Charles  Lamb  and  his  friend: 

"I  hate  that  man"  said  one,  referring  to  a  man 
that  they  saw.  "Hate  him!  Why  you  don't  even 
know  him,"  said  the  other.  "Know  him!  of  course 
I  don't  know  him.  How  could  I  hate  him  if  I  knew 
him,"  was  the  rejoinder. 

The  white  South  has  issued  a  decree,  against  which 
the  Negro  as  a  race  lift  no  voice  of  protest,  to  the 
effect  that  two  races  are  not  to  commingle  in  social 
matters.  This  means  that  the  great  assuager  of 
troublous  conditions  the  world  over,  the  social  in- 
fluence, is  not  to  be  allowed  to  stretch  forth  its  wand 
over  the  tangle  of  the  races. 


178 


WISDOM'S  CALL. 


This  very  absence  of  social  contact  renders  it 
necessary  for  the  races  to  discover  some  other  way 
of  understanding  each  other  better.  Cannot  literature 
become  this  bond  of  union?  Cannot  white  men 
and  women  picture  the  inner  life  of  the  white  South, 
and  through  these  books  give  the  Negroes  a  sympathy 
and  knowledge  of  the  whites?  Cannot  Negroes  be 
developed  to  mirror  the  life  of  their  race,  and  thus 
make  it  better  understood  by  the  whites?  Cannot 
the  millions  of  whites  and  Negroes  be  led  to  exchange 
visits  in  this  way?  This  mutual  knowledge  will 
make  for  peace  and  good  will.  But  this  can  only  be 
reached  through  the  higher  culture  of  the  Negro  race. 


IX.     THE  SPIRIT  OF  A  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  A  PEOPLE. 


Physical 
Environ- 
ments. 


It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge 
that  the  environments  of  a  people,  the. 
forces  of  nature,  such  as  the  soil,  the 
sea  and  the  sun,  the  animal  and  the 
vegetable  life  all  have  their  influence 
in  shaping  the  habits,  temperament  and  character, 
and  therefore  the  destiny  of  that  people.  A  familiar 
yet  striking  illustration  of  the  powerful  influence  of 
environment  upon  the  fortunes  of  respective  peoples 
is  the  fact  that  the  invigorating  climate  of  the 
Temperate  zone  has  given  to  the  men  thereof  a 
zest  for  the  duties  of  life  which  enables  them  to 
become  the  rulers  of  those  who  dwell  in  the  Torrid 
zone  where  men's  energies  are  sapped  by  the  fierce 
rays  of  a,  blazing  sun.  A  man  sitting  astride  the 
equator,  with  a  tropical  sun  beating  upon  his  heacj, 
would  perhaps  hardly  have  the  energy  to  read, 
much  less  to  write  a  "Paradise  Lost." 

Another  formative,  environing  in- 
fluence operating  strongly  upon  a 
people  is  the  question  of  the  relation- 
ship of  that  people  toward  its  neighbor. 
The  mental  attitude  that  the  neighbor 

(181) 


Political 
Environ- 
ments. 


182  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

causes  to  be  assumed  enters  into  the  formation  of 
racial  or  national  character.  In  order  for  the 
various  German  kingdoms  to  become  susceptible  of 
being  gathered  into  one  great  central  empire  certain 
well  defined  characteristics  had  to  be  developed  in 
the  minds  of  the  German  people.  Bismarck  is 
credited  with  having  effected  this  union,  but  he  was 
simply  able  to  make  good  use  of  the  spirit  of  co- 
hesiveness  which  the  proximity  of  the  French  and 
the  constant  menace  of  a  possible  French  invasion 
engendered  in  German  character. 

We  wish  now  to  invite  serious 
A  Look  attention  to  the  potentialities  of  the 
Back-  Southern  Negro  in  his  capacity  as  an 

ward.  environing  influence.    We  do  not  at 

all  here  refer  to  what  he  may  do  as  a 
conscious  or  active  agent  in  influencing  the  character 
of  the  white  South  but  to  what  his  mere  presence 
will  accomplish  in  the  way  of  shaping  its  spiritual 
destiny.  Before,  however,  proceeding  to  show  how 
the  Negro  of  to-day  is  affecting  the  thought  life  of 
the  South  let  us  hark  back  to  former  times  and  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  manner  in  which  as  a  silent  human 
environment,  he  was  a  vital  factor  in  bringing  to 
pass  a  happening  of  tremendous  import  to  the  South 
and  the  entire  nation.  As  the  years  go  rushing  on, 
carrying  with  them,  further  and  further  into  the  hazy 
regions  of  the  past  the  riot  of  bitter  feelings  born  of 
the  turmoil  and  strife  incident  to  the  waging  of  the 
Civil  War,  as  the  Northerner  and  the  Southerner  now 
meet,  fraternize  and  discover  in  each  other  so  many 
admirable  traits,  so  many  points  in  common,  the 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  183 

wonder  increases  on  each  side  as  to  how  they  ever 
got  so  far  apart  as  to  drench  their  common  country 
with  the  precious  blood  handed  down  to  them  from 
an  ancestry  that  laid  equal  claims  to  both  of  them. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  this  war  was  the  outcome  of 
Abolitionist  influence,  for  the  Abolitionists  were  a 
comparatively  small  group  very  much  depised  even  in 
the  North,  and  lacked  the  commanding  influence  nec- 
essary to  precipitate  the  great  struggle.  The  strength 
of  their  hold  upon  the  public  mind  may  be  measured 
by  such  incidents  as  the  dragging  of  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  the  greatest  of  all  Abolitionists,  through 
the  streets  of  Boston  with  a  rope  around  his  neck, 
and  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  by  an  infuriated  mob 
bent  upon  suppressing  the  agitation  of  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery.  Nor  yet  can  it  be  said  that  the 
business  men  of  the  North  brought  on  the  war.  They 
shrank  from  it,  for  they  foresaw  the  coming  of 
privateers  on  the  order  of  the  Alabama  that  would 
terribly  cripple  their  business  by  sweeping  their 
commerce  from  the  seas.  The  masses  of  the  North 
did  not  call  for  the  war.  Their  outbursts  against 
the  Abolitionists  show  rather  plainly  where  they 
were.  Of  course  the  Negroes  were  in  no  position 
to  conduct  a  propaganda  and  arouse  the  nation  to 
arms. 

There  was  but  the  one  way  for  the 
How  it  war  to  come  at  the  time  that  it  did  and 

Happened,    that  was  for  the  Southern  white  people 
to  make  a  miscalculation  as  to  what 
would  be  the  outcome  of  the  war,  and  upon  the 
strength  of  this  miscalculation  to  proceed  to  take 


184  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

such  action  as  would  invite  a  conflict.  We  shall 
now  see  how  they  were  led  to  make  the  miscalcula- 
tion. It  has  been  said  that  the  battle  of  Waterloo 
was  won  on  the  playgrounds  of  Eton,  that  at  that 
school  the  English  lads,  who  afterwards  became 
soldiers,  acquired  those  characteristics  which  served 
them  so  well  when  called  upon  to  face  in  battle  array 
the  hosts  of  the  great  Napoleon.  With  equal  truth 
it  may  be  said  that  the  Civil  War  was  a  gift  of  the  na- 
tion from  the  playgrounds  of  the  slave  plantations  of 
the  South.  The  Southern  white  child  reared  among 
its  father's  slaves  became  thoroughly  saturated  with 
the  spirit  of  mastery.  Its  frown  brought  obedience; 
a  lick  directed  at  a  Negro  companion  however  well 
aimed,  brought  no  lick  in  return.  There  was,  under 
the  circumstances,  no  escape  from  the  development 
of  that  child's  mind  the  conception  that  it  was  born 
to  rule,  and  that  it  was  the  sacred  duty  of  all  opposi- 
tion to  fade  before  its  frown.  The  white  child  which  as 
a  youth  had  Sent  twenty  Negro  lads  scurrying  through 
the  woods,  when  grown  to  manhood  felt  that  he  could 
handle  at  least  five  Yankees  by  himself.  It  was  anoth- 
er case  of  a  David's  success  with  a  bear  and  a  lion  in- 
fluencing him  to  believe  that  he  could  handle  Goliath. 
Wise  men  in  the  South  saw  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
the  struggle  and  pleaded  with  the  people  to  refrain 
from  taking  the  fatal  step,  but  all  to  no  avail.  The 
playground  had  done  its  work  too  well.  The  yield- 
ing, non-resisting  Negro  had  so  charged  the  spirit 
of  the  Southern  white  with  the  idea  of  mastery  that 
he  hesitated  not  for  a  moment  to  rush  into  a  struggle 
in  which  he  was  overwhelmed  with  numbers,  robbed 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  185 

of  his  possessions  and  for  a  season  placed  in  charge 
of  his  former  slaves.  Where  in  all  of  human  history- 
has  there  .been  a  case  of  a  greater  miscalculation 
than  that  which  the  white  South  made,  and  to  what 
may  it  be  ascribed,  but  to  the  fact  that  che  Negro 
was  the  Southern  white  child's  environment  and 
furnished  food  for  the  development  of  an  exaggerated 
notion  of  its  prowess,  without  which  notion  the  Civil 
War  would  never  have  been  invited? 

Not  only  did  the  yielding  Negro  as  an 
Prolonged  environing  influence  bring  on  the 
The  war,  but  as  such  an  influence  he  pro- 

Struggle,  longed  the  struggle  and  made  it  the 
more  bloody.  One  of  the  facts  that 
stands  out  most  conspicuously  with  reference  to  the 
Civil  War  is  the  facility  with  which  the  South  furn- 
ished its  armies  with  splendid  commanders.  The 
institution  of  slavery  had  given  to  the  Southerners 
the  habit  of  command.  The  Northerners,  going 
to  the  war  out  of  an  industrial  democracy,  had  to 
acquire  step  by  step,  the  art  of  handling  men,  whereas 
with  the  Southerner  it  was  often  an  inheritance, 
handed  down  from  father  to  son  and  accentuated 
through  the  constant  exercise'of  lordship  over  slaves. 
When  therefore,  we  behold  the  Southern  commanders 
marshalling  their  poorly  equipped  battle  lines' 
against  their  better  fed,  better  equipped  and  far 
more  numerous  foes;  as  we  see  the  skill  of  these 
Confederate  officers  as  commanders  of  men  making 
up  for  the  disparity  of  numbers;  as  we  think  of  the 
length  of  the  titanic  struggle  and  glance  around  at 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  graves,  we  must 


186  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

admit  the  importance  of  the  part  played  by  the 
Negro  as  a  silent  human  environment  when  as  a 
slave  he  furnished  the  material  upon  which  the 
white  South  developed  and  sharpened  its  instinct 
for  the  exercise  of  executive  ability  in  the  matter  of 
handling  men. 

So  much  for  the  past.  But  the 
Affecting  Negro  is  still  here  as  a  silent  environing 
Spirits.  influence  of  great  importance  as  will 

presently  appear.  It  is  very  evident 
to  all  observers  that  while  the  South  has  in  it  men 
and  women  of  an  intensely  vigorous  spirit  who  have 
builded  a  new  and  prosperous  empire  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  former  South  which  the  war  so  largely  des- 
troyed, there  are  also  present  in  its  life  millions  of 
dull,  unaspiring,  listless,  spiritless  whites  who  plan 
no  great  things  for  themselves  nor  yet  for  their 
children  after  them. 

Philanthropists,  sociologists  and  sundry  classes 
of  men  and  women  have  made  a  study  of  this  un- 
aspiring element  of  whites  in  an  effort  to  account 
for  its  utter  lack  of  spirit.  Let  us  join  them  in  the 
search. 

One  of  the  great,  all  pervasive  forces 
What  Spurs  at  work  in  the  hearts  of  men,  causing 
Men  On.  them  to  exert  themselves,  is  the  desire 

to  attain  unto  a  sense  of  station,  to 
reach  that  state  of  mind  where  they  can  feel  that  they 
are  something  when  compared  with  something  else, 
that  they  are  beyond  some  point  which  all  men  would 
be  glad  to  pass.  The  effort  of  the  child  to  stand 
at  the  head  of  its  class,  the  quest  of  the  student  of 
maturer  years  for  degrees,  the  strivings  of  rich  men  for 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  187 

greater  wealth,  are  but  variations  of  the  universal 
search  of  man  for  a  sense  of  station.  The  failure  of 
many  of  the  children  of  the  rich  and  the  powerful  to 
develop  into  successful  men  and  women  is  due  to 
the  fact  that,  finding  ready  to  hand  that  which  gives 
them  a  sense  of  station,  they  miss  the  quickening 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  a  desire  to  acquire  such. 
Conceiving  that  they  are  already  something  they 
feel  no  inclination  to  put  forth  efforts  to  become 
something.  Unlike  the  Apostle  Paul  they  do  not 
forget  but  rather  remember  the  things  that  are  be- 
hind, hence  do  not  press  forward  to  the  mark  of  the 
high  calling. 

A  thing  to  be  avoided  as  one  would 
That  a  deadly  poison  is  any  influence  which 

Which  begets    a    degree    of    self-satisfaction 

Stifles.  that  is  benumbing  to   the  spirit,  that 

robs  one  of  the  motive  power  that  calls 
his  powers  into  action.  Successful  fathers,  for  this 
reason,  have  before  them  the  task  of  preventing 
their  own  successes  from  constituting  a  full  measure 
of  soul  satisfaction  for  their  children. 

Solomon  assures  us  that  "Pride  goeth  before 
destruction  and  an  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall." 
This  is  true  because  pride  is  but  another  name  for 
self-satisfaction,  and  self-satisfaction  means  stagna- 
tion, which  in  turn  means  spiritual  lifelessness, 
death.  Hence  the  fall  of  the  man  of  a  haughty 
spirit. 

The  Southern  white  people  find 
Spiritual  themselves  living  side  by  side  with  a 
Barriers  race  which  they  do  not  desire  to  see 
Erected.  blended  with  their  own.  In  order 

that     there     may     be     no  fusing  of 

7 


1S8  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

the  races  they  feel  it  incumbent  upon  themselves'to 
keep  strengthened  the  spiritual  barriers  between  the 
two  races.  For  the  furtherance  of  this  end  there 
has  been  a  careful  cultivation  of  certain  modes  of 
thought  with  regard  to  the  Negro  race.  The  more 
refined  and  cultivated  among  the  whites  confine 
their  efforts  to  the  cultivation  of  the  thought  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  races  and  rely  upon 
the  stressing  of  the  fact  of  difference  to  keep 
each  race  in  a  distinct  sphere.  This  thought 
of  difference  is  what  is  used  in  the  matter 
of  having  girls  and  boys  move  in  different 
spheres.  The  editor  of  the  New  York 
Independent,  Mr.  William  Hayes  Ward,  an  un- 
compromising champion  of  the  rights  of  the  Negro, 
in  setting  forth  his  attitude  toward  the  intermarriage 
of  the  two  races,  stated  that  he  would  not  desire  a 
child  of  his  to  marry  a  Negro,  and  stated  that  he 
would  base  his  objections  to  his  child,  not  on  the 
ground  of  superiority,  but  upon  that  of  difference. 
When  the  question  of  Japanese  immigration  was 
up  for  discussion  in  Congress  a  distinguished  Con- 
gressman from  "the  South  asserted  that  the  influx  of 
Japanese  was  opposed,  not  because  they  were  in- 
ferior, but  because  they  were  different  from  the 
American  people. 

But  some  of  the  white  people  of  the* 
Wrong  South,   especially   a   certain   type   of 

Method         politicians,  have  seen  fit  to  make  use  of 
Employed,    the  thought  of  superiority  as  an  aid  to 
the  thought  of  difference.     The  back- 
ward  element   among  the  whites  has  it  sung  into 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  189 

their  ears  that  the  mere  fact  of  their  being  white  is  a 
tremendous  thing  of  itself.  When  the  illiterate 
white  man  is  made  to  feel,  not  only  that  he  is  not  a 
Negro,  but  that  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  not,  is  of 
itself  something  great,  a  sort  of  inexhaustible  capital 
stock  on  which  he  may  do  business  indefinitely  he 
thenceforth  has  his  sense  of  station.  But  this  ready 
to  hand  sense  of  station  is  far,  far  from  what  this 
illiterate  white  man  needs.  He  has  remained  in  the 
valley  of  his  ignorance  while  his  more  favored  Anglo- 
Saxon  brother,  from  the  top  of  the  mountain  range 
has  been  grappling  with  world,  and  other-world 
problems.  What  the  derelict  so  sadly  needs  is  the 
whip  and  the  spur  to  his  soul,  the  impregnation  of 
his  spirit  with  those  dim  but  all  powerful  yearnings 
which  move  men  to  be  up  and  doing.  We  know  of 
no  greater  wrong  that  has  been  done  the  illiterate, 
the  backward  whites  than  this  going  among  them  of 
politicians  who  have  sought  their  votes  by  making 
them  hug  themselves  in  benumbing  self-satisfaction 
over  the  tremendous  fact  that  they  are  not  Negroes. 
If  the  teachers  of  these  backward  whites  had  but 
insisted  upon  the  fact  of  difference  between  the 
races,  leaving  to  each  man  the  problem  of  working  to 
acquire  his  own  individual  sense  of  station,  of  sup- 
eriority, the  spirits  of  the  backward  ones  might  have 
escaped  the  blight  that  comes  from  feasting  upon 
imputed  attributes,  unearned  personally. 

The    Anglo-Saxon    race    was    not 
Coddling       coddled  by  Fate  into  its  present  great- 
No  Aid.          ness.     On  the  contrary,  she  has  urged 
it  forward  with  her  frown.     Pretending 


190  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

to  despise  the  breed,  Fate  pushed  it  out  of  Lower 
Germany  into  the  sea  and  at  length  allowed  it  to 
gain  a  precarious  foothold  upon  the  shores  of  Great 
Britain.  Throughout  its  history  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  has  been  made  to  fight  in  an  open  field  for  every 
slight  advance.  On  the  other  hand,  Fate,  acting  as 
though  she  loved  the  African,  lulled  him  to  sleep 
under  the  bamboo  tree,  poured  his  lap  full  of  food 
that  he  might  eat  when  he  awoke,  and  return 
immediately  to  his  slumbers.  In  the  meanwhile 
she  was  scourging  other  races  and  causing  them  to 
leave  the  African  far  behind.  Is  this  process  to  be 
reversed  in  the  South?  Is  Fate  permitting  the 
white  man  to  weaken  and  coddle  his  own,  that  the 
Negro  may  have  the  opportunity  through  the 
strength  that  comes  from  suffering  to  regain  the 
ground  lost  through  residing  in  over-indulgent 
Africa? 

The  most  picturesque,  the  most 
Harmful  forceful  figure  of  the  English  speaking 
to  Whites,  world  to-day,  in  fact  the  most  pregnant 
personality  of  our  times,  is  that  of  ex- 
President  Theodore  Roosevelt.  When  he  sought 
to  dissipate  the  ill  feeling  engendered  against  him  in 
the  South  because  of  a  certain  now  famous  dinner, 
he  issued  a  card  through  Judge  Jones  of  Alabama  in 
which  among  other  things  he  gave  his  grounds  for 
opposing  such  of  the  constitutions  of  the  Southern 
States  as  discriminated  in  favor  of  illiterate  whites. 
He  asserted  that  he  regarded  such  a  course  as  an 
injustice  to  these  whites.  Was  Mr.  Roosevelt 
right?  In  the  practice  of  discriminating  in  favor  of 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  191 

the  white  man,  does  there  not  lurk  harm  for  the 
spirit  of  the  white  race?  Let  us  here  quote  the 
words  of  the  late  Chancellor  Hill,  of  the  University  of 
Georgia:  "The  thing  which  the  South  cannot  afford  in 
its  relation  to  the  Negro  race  is  injustice;  all  history 
teaches  that  injustice  injures  and  deteriorates  the 
individual  or  nation  that  practices  it,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  it  develops  and  strengthens  the  race 
upon  which  it  is  inflicted." 

The  white  people  of  the  South  out- 
Free  Yet  number  the  Negroes  and  hold  the 
Not  Free.  political  power  in  their  own  hands. 
Our  form  of  government  permits  a 
large  measure  of  local  self  government.  The  Su- 
preme Court  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
have  ever  been  slow  to  interfere  with  the  white 
South  in  the  matter  of  the  adjustment  of  the  relations 
between  the  races,  not  exercising  such  powers  as 
clearly  belong  to  them  under  the  constitution.  In 
view  of  these  facts  the  white  people  of  the  South  are 
largely  free  to  build  up  whatever  sort  of  system  they 
may  desire.  But  be  it  known  unto  them  that  the  High 
Court  of  Things  Eternal  has  decreed  that  all  systems  of 
caste  shall  finally  wither  the  souls  of  the  men  that  in- 
stitute them;  that  an  unjust  deed  eventually  breeds 
and  hands  back  an  unjust  heart;  that,  in  so  far  as 
the  white  people  of  the  South,  by  legislative  enact- 
ment or  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  practice  dis- 
crimination supposedly  in  the  white  man's  favor,  and 
seek  to  lift  him  from  the  sphere  of  the  operation 
of  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  to  that  ex- 
tent they  shall  write  lethargy,  stupor,  distemper  in 
the  hearts  of  millions  of  their  kind. 


192  WISDOM'S  CALL. 

One  morning  as  we  were  scanning  a 
A  Prayer.  daily  paper  issued  m  one  of  the  larger 
of  our  Southern  cities,  we  found 
printed  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  column  a  prayer, 
the  essence  of  which,  in  part,  was  as  follows:  "May 
it  be  granted  unto  the  good  people  of  our  great  state 
that  no  sinister  influence  come  over  them  to  pervert 
the  noble  spirit  that  has  all  along  been  theirs." 

The  editor  who  breathed  this  prayer  had  a  vision 
of  the  evils  that  could  come  to  his  state  through  the 
transforming  of  the  spirit  of  the  people.  He  realized 
that  the  fertile  soil  and  delightful  climate  would  not 
suffice  to  make  life  attractive  if  the  people  lost  the 
flavor  of  the  kind  of  spirit  needed  to  make  a  people 
truly  glorious.  If  the  spirit  of  the  people  is  wrong 
it  cannot  possibly  yield  any  of  the  finer  fruits  of  the 
soul  which  alone  make  life  worthy  of  the  pain  and 
sorrow  essential  to  carrying  forward  the  work  of  the 
world.  He,  therefore,  who  aspires  for  leadership, 
or  is  singled  out  by  the  people  and  marked  for  a 
guide,  should  have  it  as  his  first  and  most  sacred 
care  to  stand  guard  over  the  spirit  of  the  people 
whom  he  would  serve.  With  the  eye  of  an  eagle  he 
should  watch  for  whatever  would  maim,  pervert, 
deform  the  spirit  of  the  people  which  is  the  one 
reliance  for  weaving  a  wreath  of  glory  that  will 
wear  well  in  the  eyesight  of  worthy  men,  now  and 
hereafter.  While  the  medical  profession  is  busy 
trying  to  give  new  life  by  purging  the  system  of  the 
hookworm,  may  the  doctors  of  the  body  politic 
purge  the  government  of  all  discrimination  calculated 
to  breed  a  far  more  deadening  stupor  in  the  soul  of 
the  white  race. 


WISDOM'S  CALL.  19S 

In  view  of  the  mighty  deeds  done 
Spiritual  in  the  various  climes  of  earth  in  the 
Restless-  years  that  have  gone;  in  view  of  the 
ness  A  strenuous  strivings  of  men  of  every 

Vital  Need,  kindred,  tribe  and  tongue  in  this  great 
age  of  the  world,  if  the  white  South 
would  hold  its  own,  would  develop  a  social  body 
able  to  compete  with  the  North,  with  France,  with 
England  and  with  Germany,  it  must  have  that 
spiritual  restlessness,  that  burning  discontent  which 
located  in  the  bosom  of  the  units  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  has  heretofore  pushed  that  race  forward 
into  its  present  position  of  world-wide  influence.  But 
it  cannot  have  the  presence  of  this  mighty  influence, 
cannot  have  it,  so  long  as  there  hangs  over  Southern 
skies  the  dark  shadow  of  discrimination  distilling  its 
poisonous  dews  over  the  souls  of  men,  giving  unto 
them  a  sense  of  satisfaction,  intense  in  nature, 
causing  millions  to  sit  down  spiritually,  and  quietly 
take  their  ease  when  they  should  be  on  the  alert 
grappling  with  the  great  problems  of  human  society. 


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